UNITED  STATES  ITARIFF  COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON 


INFORMATION 


CONCERNING 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING 
ORES 


PRINTED  FOR  USE  OF 

COMMITTEE  ON  WAYS  AND  MEANS 
HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1919 


UNITED  STATES  TARIFF  COMMISSION 
WASHINGTON 


INFORMATION 


CONCERNING 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING 
ORES 


PRINTED  FOR  USE  OF 

COMMITTEE  ON  WAYS  AND  MEANS 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1919 


UNITED   STATES  TARIFF  COMMISSION. 
Office:  1322  New  York  Avenue,  Washington,  D.  C. 

COMMISSIONERS. 

F.  W.  Taiissig,  Chairman.  William  Kent. 

Thomas  Walker  Page,  Vice  Chairman.         William  S.  Culbertson. 
David  J.  Lewis.  Edward  P.  Costigan. 

William  M.  Steuart,  Sewetary. 


CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Letter  of  transmittal 5 

Introductory  statement 7 

I.  Summary: 

Description 9 

Uses 9 

Domestic  production — 

Quantity 9 

Mining  methods 9 

Concentration 10 

Equipment 10 

Organization 10 

Localities  of  production 10 

Domestic  production  and  domestic  consumption 10 

Domestic  exports 11 

Foreign  production — 

Countries  of  largest  production 11 

Tungsten  industry  in  foreign  countries 11 

Imports 11 

Prices 12 

Tariff  history 13 

Tariffs  in  foreign  countries 13 

Tariff  questions  involved 13 

United  States  Tariff  Commission  conferences,  1918 14 

Summary  table 15 

II.  General  information: 

Description 16 

History 17 

Uses..'. 18 

Substitutes 19 

Mining  methods 19 

Concentration  or  milling 20 

Countries  of  largest  production 21 

World's  production  of  tungsten  ore  (table) 22 

Domestic  production  and  resources 22 

Foreign  production  and  resources 26 

Costs. 30 

Markets  and  marketing 31 

Domestic  production  and  prices 32 

Domestic  consumption  and  sources  of  supply 36 

Imports 37 

Exports 39 

Kates  of  duty 39 

Court  and  Treasury  decisions 39 

III.  Competitive  conditions 40 

IV.  Miscellaneous: 

Reduction  of  tungsten  ore 42 

Opinions  of  producers 42 

Trad'j  relations  and  the  tungsten  industry 44 

M  ininsr  labor  conditions  in  Portugal 46 

Bibliography 47 

Associations,  establishments,  importers,  etc 47 

3 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


UNITED  STATES  TARIFF  COMMISSION, 

Washington,  June  14,  1919. 

The  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  House  of  Representatives: 

I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith,  in  accordance  with  your 
request,  information  compiled  by  the  United  States  Tariff  Commis- 
sion on  tungsten-bearing  ores. 
Very  respectfully, 

THOMAS  WALKER  PAGE, 

Acting  Chairman. 
5 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT. 

Tungsten  mining  was  an  industry  that  was  profoundly  affected  by 
the  war.  In  June,  1918,  two  conferences  were  held  by  the  United 
States  Tariff  Commission — one  in  Denver  and  one  in  San  Francisco— 
at  which  the  producers,  consumers,  and  importers  of  the  ore  and  metal 
were  given  an  opportunity  to  present  their  views  as  to  the  permanent 
aspects  of  the  industry. 

The  domestic  production  of  tungsten-bearing  ore  increased  under 
the  stress  of  war  necessity  to  nearly  five  times  the  output  before  the 
war.  The  signing  of  the  armistice  found  large  accumulations  of 
ore  and  ferro-tungsten  in  this  and  foreign  countries;  and  the  closing 
of  munition  plants,which  had  been  the  largest  consumers  of  tungsten 
steel,  caused  a  temporary  reduction  in  the  demand  for  tungsten 
products.  The  result  of  these  circumstances  was  a  chaotic  condition 
of  the  market  which  was  aggravated  by  heavy  importations  of  foreign 
ore  released  from  licensing  regulations. 

Tungsten  mines  throughout  the  United  States  have  been  closed 
down  and  domestic  production  is  at  a  standstill;  but  the  influx  of 
foreign  supplies  has  continued  unabated  and  has  inhibited  readjust- 
ment of  the  American  industry  to  a  peace  basis.  Consumption  is 
becoming  adjusted,  but  prices  are  at  a  level  that  does  not  permit  the 
successful  operation  of  American  mines.  Reports  indicate  the  dis- 
covery of  large  new  supplies  of  ore  in  southern  China,  and  that  the 
flood  of  ore  from  that  section  is  partly  present  production,  and  not 
merely  a  liquidation  of  stocks  accumulated  during  the  war  period. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES; 

T.  SUMMARY.1 

DESCRIPTION. 

There  are  four  commercial  tungsten  minerals,  scheelite,  ferberite, 
huebnerite,  and  wolframite.  Scheelite  is  the  tungstate  of  lime.  The 
other  three  are  frequently  grouped  together  as  the  wolframite  series, 
ranging  in  composition  from  ferberite  (tungstate  of  iron)  to  huebnerite 
(tungstate  of  manganese) .  The  pure  minerals  of  the  wolframite  series 
contain  over  76  per  cent  tungsten  trioxide  (WO3).  Scheelite  con- 
tains about  80  per  cent  WO3.  The  tungsten  ore  of  commerce,  how- 
ever, contains  a  certain  amount  of  nontungsten  bearing  material  in 
addition  to  one  or  more  of  the  above  minerals.  The  standard  ore 
contains  60  per  cent  WO3  and  this  tenor  is  usually  obtained  by 
concentration  of  low-grade  ore. 

USES. 

Practically  all  the  tungsten  ore  now  produced  in  the  world  is  used 
in  the  making  of  tungsten  metal  or  ferro tungsten.  Various  salts  of 
tungsten  have  been  employed  in  the  dye  industries,  but  have  been 
almost  wholly  replaced  by  cheaper  chemicals.  Over  95  per  cent  of 
the  tungsten  production  goes  into  the  making  of  tungsten  steel,  which 
is  in  general  use  for  high-speed  cutting  tools,  permanent  magnets,  and 
saw  blades.  A  small  amount  of  very  pure  tungsten  is  consumed  in 
the  making  of  filaments  for  incandescent  electric  lights. 

DOMESTIC    PRODUCTION. 

Quantity. — The  maximum  domestic  production  of  tungsten  ore, 
expressed  in  terms  of  concentrates  containing  60  per  cent  WO3,  was 
5,900  short  tons,  in  1916.  The  1917  output  was  4,633  short  tons.  The 
valuations  for  the  respective  years  were  $24,780,000  and  $5,932,000. 
Preliminary  reports  indicate  that  the  1918  output  was  5,046  short 
tons. 

Mining  methods. — Some  tungsten  is  obtained  by  placer  mining, 
especially  in  foreign  countries.  Most  of  the  domestic  production 
is  obtained  from  lode  deposits.  In  new  districts  the  ore  may  often 
be  picked  up  on  the  surface  of  the  ground  or  gouged  out  from  shal- 
low open  workings.  Such  cheaply  obtained  material  is  largoh-  ex- 
hausted in  the  United  States  and  most  of  the  domestic  production 
now  comes  from  underground  workings.  These  are  of  two  types, 
which  may  be  designated  narrow  or  wide.  The  narrow  deposits  are 
typified  by  the  stringer  lodes  of  Boulder  Count}',  Colo.  The  lodes 
of  the  Southwest  are  usually  wider  and  can  be  worked  on  a  larger 
scale. 


i  This  first  section,  under  "Summary,"  is  to  be  regarded  merely  as  a  condensed  abstract  of  what  follows 
under  "  General  Information"  in  later'section. 

128894—19 2  9 


10  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 

Concentration. — The  mechanical  treatment  of  low-grade  tungsten  ore 
has  reached  its  highest  development  in  the  United  States.  American 
mills  are  better  equipped  than  those  in  foreign  countries  and  obtain  a 
more  nearly  complete  extraction  of  the  values.  Tungsten  ore  has  a 
strong  tendency  to  slime.  This  tendency  is  minimized  by  stage  re- 
duction and  improved  machinery  for  the  recovery  of  fine  material. 

Equipment. — In  the  early  stages  of  production  practically  no  equip- 
ment is  required,  as  the  work  consists  largely  of  collecting  the  ore  and 
hand  sorting;  but  when  deep  mining  begins,  power  plants,  pumps, 
hoists,  air  compressors,  and  other  machinery  must  be  installed  and 
considerable  capital  expended  in  development  work.  The  treatment 
of  a  large  tonnage  of  low-grade  material  requires  expensive  crushing 
.and  concentrating  machinery. 

Organization. — The  tungsten  industry  is  characterized  by  a  large 
number  of  small  independent  producers  with  only  a  few  well-financed 
companies.  A  considerable  number  of  the  stronger  operators  have 
connections  with  manufacturers  or  consumers  of  tungsten  metal  and 
ore.  The  Atolia  Mining  Co.  of  California  l  is  the  largest  producer  in 
the  United  States,  and  its  output  constitutes  over  30  per  cent  of  the 
total  domestic  product.  Fully  75  per  cent  of  the  tungsten  mined  in 
the  United  States  is  taken  out  by  four  large  companies,  the  Atolia  in 
California  and  the  Primos  Chemical  Co.,  the  Wolf  Tongue  M.  &  M. 
Co.,  and  the  Tungsten  Products  Co.,  in  Boulder  County,  Colo.  The 
remaining  25  per  cent  comes  from  a  large  and  constantly  shifting 
group  of  small  operators. 

Localities  of  production. — Tungsten  deposits  are  actively  exploited 
in  the  Mojave  Desert  and  at  Bishop,  Calif.;  in  Boulder  County 
and  Silverton,  Colo.;  in  various  counties  in  Nevada;  in  Arizona; 
and  in  the  Black  Hills  of  South  Dakota.  A  sporadic  production 
has  come  from  sections  in  the  above  States  other  than  those  specifi- 
cally mentioned  and  from  Idaho,  Washington,  Oregon,  New  Mexico, 
Utah,  Missouri,  and  Connecticut.  In  the  last  few  years  California 
and  Colorado  have  contributed  approximately  90  per  cent  of  the 
total  output  of  the  United  States  and  in  about  equal  proportions. 
The  Atolia  district  in  the  Mojave  Desert  is  the  largest  producer  of 
scheelite  in  the  world. 

Domestic  production  and  domestic  consumption. — The  domestic  pro- 
•duction  of  tungsten  ore  furnished  less  than  50  per  cent  of  the  domes- 
tic requirements  in  1917  and  a  probably  still  smaller  percentage  in 
1918.  Previous  to  the  Great  War  about  75  per  cent  of  the  domestic 
supplv  came  from  American  mines,  but  the  consumption  has  increased 
more  "rapidly  than  the  production. 

The  ratio  of  the  consumption  to  the  production  of  tungsten  ore  is 
not  strictly  an  index  of  the  tungsten  requirements  of  the  country. 
The  imports  and  exports  of  tungsten  powder  and  ferrotungsten  must 
also  be  considered.  In  the  prewar  period  some  tungsten  was  im- 
ported in  the  form  of  ferro-alloy;  but  since  1914  practically  all  the 
imports  have  been  of  ore.  In  1917  the  United  States  exported 
large  amounts  of  ferrotungsten  and  tungsten  powder.  The  actual 
ratio  of  consumption  to  the  production  of  tungsten  metal  has,  there- 
fore, not  increased  quite  so  rapidly  as  has  that  of  the  ore;  neverthe- 
less,' a  less  proportion  of  the  total  tungsten  actually  used  for  the 

i  Not  connected  with  tungsten  manufacturers. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  11 

making  of  finished  steel  and  other  products  (ultimate  tungsten  con- 
sumption) is  now  produced  in  this  country  than  in  the  years  preced- 
ing the  war.  ' 

Domestic  exports. — Very  little  of  the  -United  States  production  of 
tungsten  ore  has  ever  been  exported.  A  small  amount  was  shipped  to 
Germany  in  1910  to  1914.  No  records  are  available  as  to  the  exact 
amount,  but  it  was  n,ever  large.  In  the  last  year  or  two  there  has 
been  some  export  of  ferrotungsten,  especially  to  Italy,  but  the  con- 
tinuance of  these  exports  is  not  dependent  on  domestic  production 
of  ore  as  this  metal  could  be,  and  probably  to  a  large  extent  is, 
reduced  from  imported  ore. 

FOREIGN   PRODUCTION. 

Countries  of  largest  production. — Burma  (including  the  Shan 
States)  is  the  largest  producer  of  tungsten  ore  in  the  world  and  in 
1917  produced  21.4  per  cent  of  the  world  output.  The  United 
States  was  the  second  largest  and  produced  17.1  per  cent  of  the 
total  for  that  year.  Bolivia  was  third  with  an  output  equivalent  to 
15.8  per  cent.  In  1917,  41.8  per  cent  of  the  world  supply  was  drawn 
from  Asia;  22.2  per  cent  from  South  America;  18.4  per  cent  from 
North  America;  11.3  per  cent  from  Europe,  and  6.3  per  cent  from 
Australia  and  New  Zealand.  Africa  produced  only  a  negligible 
amount.  These  figures  indicate,  as  experience  has  shown,  that 
tungsten  is  widely  distributed  over  the  earth's  crust,  but  in  no 
place  is  it  found  in  very  great  amounts. 

Tungsten  industry  in  foreign  countries.— Most  of  the  Asiatic  supply 
comes  from  surface  deposits.  Broadly  speaking,  especially  in  Burma 
and  contiguous  territory,  the  cream  of  this  easily  gathered  material 
has  been  skimmed  as  evidenced  by  increased  costs  in  spite  of  the 
cheap  labor  employed.  *  The  only  exceptions  are  certain  sections 
of  China  and  Korea.  The  Bolivian  production  comes  chiefly  from 
deep  mines  where  it  is  found  associated  with  tin. 

In  general,  the  costs  of  foreign  production — even  including  freight 
to  the  United  States — are  lower  than  the  costs  of  production  in  the 
United  States.  This  is  due  not  only  to  cheaper  labor  but  also  to  the 
fact  that  a  larger  proportion  of  foreign  ore  comes  from  near  the 
surface. 

IMPORTS. 

From  30  to  50  per  cent  of  the  United  States  supply  of  tungsten 
ore  is  imported.  In  general  the  foreign  ore  is  not  so  free  from  objec- 
tionable impurities  as  is  the  American  product,  and,  therefore,  sells 
at  a  discount  from  the  American  quotations.  Some  of  the  imported 
ore,  however,  compares  favorably  in  regard  to  purity  with  the 
domestic.  As  a  rule,  it  has  a  higher  tungsten  content,  frequently 
running  up  to  65  or  70  per  cent.  Ore  containing  as  little  as  50  per 
cent  WO3  is  imported,  but  the  average  grade  of  imported  ore  is  in 
the  neighborhood  of  60  per  cent. 

Germany  was  the  trading  center  of  the  tungsten  industry  before 
the  war  and  most  of  the  prewar  imports  of  the  United  States  were 
.shipped  from  Germany.  Only  a  fraction  of  those  imports  originated 
in  Germany  but  represented  a  Gorman  brokerage  business.  When 


12  .  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION  KEPOKT. 

Germany  was  cut  off  from  world  communication,  imports  came 
direct  from  the  countries  of  origin,  especially  from  South  America 
and  Asia.  Another  feature  of  the  shortening  of  the  routing  of 
imports  was  the  practical  cessation  of  the  importation  of  tungsten 
metal  and  ferrotungsten.  The  tungsten  supply  of  the  United  States 
is  now  derived  almost  exclusively  from  ore,  whereas  German-made 
ferro-alloy  formerly  represented  an  important  fraction  of  the  im- 
ported supply. 

There  are  no  tungsten  reduction  plants  on  the  Pacific  slope  so 
the  ultimate  destination  of  ore  is  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  Due 
to  the  transfer  of  sources  of  supply  from  Europe  to  South  America 
and  Asia,  an  increasing  amount  of  material  has  arrived  at  Pacific 
ports.  The  transcontinental  freight  ($42.50  a  ton  in  1918)  to  the 
Eastern  States  is  not  a  very  large  item  as  compared  to  the  cost  of 
so  expensive  a  commodity  (valued  at  $1,000  to  $1,500  a  ton),  and  it 
is  partially  offset  by  nearness  of  centers  of  consumption  of  the 
ferro-alloy. 

Revenue. — The  maximum  revenue  collected  in  the  form  of  duties 
on  tungsten  ores  was  less  than  $39,000.  This  was  in  1913  *  under 
a  tariff  of  10  per  cent  ad  valorem.  Since  tungsten  ore  has  been 
imported  free  of  duty  during  the  war  period,  the  imports  have 
furnished  no  revenue,  although  their  value  in  1917  l  was  nearly 

13  times  as  great  as  in  1913.1 

PRICES. 

The  price  of  tungsten  ore  is  quoted  in  the  United  States  in  terms 
of  the  value  of  a  short  ton  unit  (20  pounds)  of  tungsten  trioxide 
(WO3)  and  based  on  material  containing  60  per  cent  WO3  and  no 
objectionable  impurities.  Unless  otherwise  specified,  the  quota- 
tion is  for  wolframite.  Scheelite  and  ferberite  are  worth  a  little 
more  and  huebnerite  a  little  less  than  wolframite  in  concentrates 
of  the  same  tungsten  tenor.  A  small  premium  is  paid  for  ore  of 
higher  grade  than  60  per  cent  and  there  is  a  discount  off  the  unit 
price  for  lower  grade  material. 

The  price  history  of  tungsten  is  characterized  by  extreme  fluctua- 
tions. •  There  was  a  general  advance  in  price  from  about  $2  a  unit 
in  1900  to  a  little  more  than  $7  a  unit  in  1914.  In  the  winter  of 
1915-16  there  was  a  "boom"  in  tungsten.  The  price  soared  to 
over  $90  a  unit  in  a  period  of  about  six  months.  Then  followed 
a  spectacular  fall  to  $25  and  later  $18  all  within  less  than  three 
months.  Since  September  1916,  the  price  has  remained  in  the  range 
$18  to  $26,  averaging  about  $22  a  unit, 

The  chief  factor  regulating  price  in  the  United  States  has  been 
the  amount  and  convenience  01  importation. 

The  British  Government  fixed  a  price  of  55s.  ($13.365)  per  long 
ton  unit  (22.4  pounds)  early  in  the  war.  This  was  later  raised  to 
60s.  ($14.60).  These  prices  are  considerably  lower  than  those  obtain- 
ing in  all  other  markets  and  are  maintained  only  by  embargoes  on 
shipments  from  British  ports.  The  present  price  of  60s.  corres- 
ponds to  $13.04  a  short  ton  unit  and  is  based  on  a  65  per  cent  WO3 
content  instead  of  60  per  cent  as  in  the  United  States. 

i  Fiscal  years. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  13 

TARIFF   HISTORY. 

Tungsten  ores  and  concentrates  are  admitted  free  of  duty  under 
paragraph  633  of  the  act  of  1913.  Previous  to  the  act  of  1909, 
tungsten  ores  were  not  specifically  mentioned  in  the  tariff  law  and 
were  held  to  be  exempt  from  duty  as  a  crude  mineral.  The  act  of 
1909  specifically  mentioned  tungsten  ores  and  imposed  a  duty  of  10 
per  cent  ad  valorem.  Following  the  complete  removal  of  the  duty, 
Ui  1913,  the  imports  fell  off  50  per  cent.  Other  factors  in  the  in- 
dustry were  more  important  at  that  time,  and  it  was  not  until  1916 
that  foreign  ore  poured  into  the  United  States  and  again  became  a 
serious  competitive  factor  in  the  market. 

TARIFFS    IN   FOREIGN   COUNTRIES. 

Tungsten  ore  is  not  specifically  mentioned  in  the  tariff  laws  of 
any  European  countries  or  Canada.1  It  therefore  comes  under  the 
blanket  clauses  covering  metallic  ores  of  all  kinds  which  are  generally 
admitted  free  of  duty.  Export  tariffs  are  levied  on  tungsten  ore  in 
Portugal  and  many  of  the  South  American  countries.  This  tax  in 
Portugal  is. SI. 07  a  unit  and  in  Bolivia  about  $0.13  per  long-ton  unit, 
plus  one-tenth  of  1  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

TARIFF   QUESTIONS   INVOLVED. 

The  tungsten  production  of  the  United  States  has  suffered  a  re- 
lapse from  the  greatly  expanded  output  of  the  war  period.  The 
cheap,  easily  mined  resources  of  this  material  are  practically  ex- 
hausted, and  a  continuation  of  production  depends  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  underground  operations  which  require  a  considerable  invest- 
ment of  capital.  While  it  has  not  yet  been  fully  demonstrated  that 
the  domestic  deposits  can  long  continue  a  large  production,  the  data 
that  are  available  indicate  that  they  can  furnish  a  substantial  amount 
for  some  time.  The  demand  for  tungsten  is  not  purely  a  war  condi- 
tion. The  effect  of  the  war  was  merely  to  emphasize  the  necessity 
for  tungsten  steel  tools  as  a  factor  in  industrial  efficiency.  Only  a 
very  serious  and  general  business  depression  would  cause  a  serious 
slackening  in  the  consumption  of  tungsten. 

The  investment  of  the  capital  necessary  to  equip  and  develop 
tungsten  mines  in  the  United  States  is  hindered  by  a  serious  doubt 
as  to  whether  the  present,  or  in  fact  any,  stabilized  price  will  be 
maintained.  There  are  producers  in  the  United  States  that  can 
market  tungsten  at  $10  a  unit,  but  an  important  part  of  the  present 
production  comes  from  mines  where  such  low  costs  are  impossible 
because  of  the  erratic  character  or  low  grade  of  the  deposits.  At 
the  tungsten  conferences  held  by  this  commission  in  Denver  and 
San  Francisco  in  June,  1918,  the  most  important  feature  of  the  entire 
situation  was  stated  by  all  producers  to  be  the  necessity  of  a  stable 
price  high  enough  to  meet  the  costs  of  operating  mines  of  the  less 
favored  group. 

1  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal,  Norway,  Sweden,  Austria-Hungary,  and  Germany, 
Kelly's  Customs  Tariffs  of  the  World,  1918;. 


14  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF  COMMISSION  REPORT. 

A  large  part  of  the  foreign  production  comes  from  comparatively 
new  fields  of  high-grade  ore  that  requires  only  to  be  picked  off  the 
ground.  This  condition  existed  in  the  United  States  up  to  about 
1915,  and  the  cost  of  production  was  less  than  $7  a  unit  even  under 
the  high  wage  scale  obtaining  in  this  country  as  compared  to  that  in 
many  foreign  countries.  Similar  deposits  in  foreign  countries  can 
be  expected  to  reach  the  same  condition  eventually,  but  for  a  time 
they  are  able  to  supply  tungsten  c.  i.  f.  American  ports  at  consider- 
ably lower  figures  than  the  American  mines. 

A  considerable  duty  on  tungsten  ore  would  encourage  the  invest- 
ment of  capital  in  tungsten  mining  and  a  continuance  of  production 
from  American  mines.  Under  the  present  free  importation  of  tung- 
sten ore  the  domestic  production  will  remain  dormant  and  can  not  be 
expected  to  recover  until  the  deposits  of  foreign  countries  are 
depleted  to  at  least  the  same  extent  as  those  in  the  United  States. 
The  world  price  will  then  rise  to  abovfc  the  cost  of  production  in 
the  United  States  and  the  American  deposits  can  be  worked.  An 
important  result  of  a  duty  would  be  the  development  of  the 
comparatively  low-grade,  but  probably  extensive,  deposits  of  the 
Southwest. 

The  domestic  production  can  not  be  expected  to  indefinitely 
supply  the  domestic  needs.  It  must  be  supplemented  by  imported 
ore. 

The  export  trade  in  ferro tungsten  and  tungsten  metal  would  not 
of  necessity  be  affected  by  a  duty  on  the  ore,  since  the  reduction  of 
South  American  and  Asiatic  ore  could  be  conducted  in  bond,  just 
as  the  smelting-in-bond  business  is  conducted  on  ores  of  lead  and  zinc. 

Another  factor  that  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  is  the  necessity  of 
placing  a  compensatory  duty  on  imports  of  tungsten  metal,  powder, 
and  salts,  ferrotungsten,  high-speed  steel,  and  other  tungsten  prod- 
ucts, in  case  a  duty  be  placed  upon  the  ore.  Under  the  act  of  1913 
these  products  are  dutiable,  but  the  duties  were  adjusted  on  the  basis 
of  the  free  entry  of  the  raw  material,  i.  e.,  with  tungsten-bearing  ore 
on  the  free  list. 

U.    S.    TARIFF   COMMISSION   CONFERENCES,    1918. 
[Digest  ol  opinions.] 

The  salient  feature  brought  out  in  every  brief  and  verbal  statement 
submitted  in  the  conferences  at  Denver  and  San  Francisco  in  June, 
1918,  was  the  anxiety  of  producers  as  regards  price.  The  develop- 
ment of  properties,  the  exploitation  of  new  mines,  the  erection  of 
concentrating  mills,  and  in  fact  all  the  requisites  for  the  continuance 
of  production  of  tungsten  ore  are  handicapped  by  the  real  doubt 
in  the  minds  of  those  able  to  furnish  the  necessary  capital  to  do  these 
things,  whether  or  not  an  adequate  price  can  be  maintained  after 
the  war.  The  present  widespread  consumption  of  tungsten  is  not 
going  to  decrease,  but  will  increase.  The  United  States  has  a  suffi- 
cient supply  to  meet  its  requirements  for  many  years  to  come. 
Although  many,  even  most,  of  the  producers — real  and  potential — 
can  not  compete  with  the  foreign  production  from  surface  deposits, 
they  claim  to  be  able  to  put  tungsten  ore  on  the  market  in  adequate 
amounts  at  a  reasonable  price  which  will  not  handicap  the  consumers 


TUNGSTEN-BE  AKING  ORES. 


15 


of  their  product,  provided  they  are  assured  of  this  reasonable  price  (by 
protection,  either  through  tariff  or  other  means)  for  a  number  of 
years. 

Tungsten  is  a  vital  necessity  to  the  country  in  war  and  peace.  The 
cheap  sources  of  supply  are  rapidly  disappearing  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  it  may  eventually  become  necessary  to  supply  all  our  needs 
from  domestic  mines.  It  was  claimed  that  if  the  domestic  produc- 
ers are  not  protected  from  foreign  supplies  that  are  likely  to  flood  the 
country  as  soon  as  embargoes  and  other  war  limitations  to  shipping 
are  removed,  many  of  them  would  be  forced  to  shut  down  their  prop- 
erties and  allow  them  to  deteriorate  to  such  an  extent  that  resump- 
tion of  production  would  be  difficult  in  the  extreme.1 

The  census  of  Colorado  producers  revealed  the  general  sentiment 
that  a  maintenance  of  present  production  could  not  be  assured  at  a 
lower  price  than  $30  to  $40  a  unit.  The  California  and  Nevada 
sentiment  was  not  so  extravagant  and  indicates  the  greater  dependa- 
bility of  the  industry  in  that  section.  A  price  of  $28  to  $30  was 
generally  desired,  but  there  was  a  strong  undercurrent  of  sentiment 
that  a  positively  stabilized  price  of  at  least  $25  a  unit  would  effect 
the  expansion  of  the  industry  in  the  Southwest. 

Summary  Table. 


Calendar 
year. 

Domes- 
tic pro- 
duction 
(long 
tons).2 

Imports 
for  con- 
sumption 
(long 
tons).3 

Domestic 
exports. 

Ratio  to 
produc- 
tion: 
Imports 
(per 
cent). 

Value 
(imports 
for  con- 
sumption). 

Amount 
of  duty. 

Value 
per 
unit  of 
quantity 
per  long 
ton. 

Equiva- 
lent ad 
valorem 
rate 
(per 
cent). 

1910 

1  696 

(4) 

(6) 

6  $178  174.00 

«$17,  817.  40 

10.00 

1911 

1.017 

(4) 

(*) 

85,887.00 

8,  588.  70 

10.00 

1912  

1,187 

736 

(« 

62.04 

362,422.00 

36,  242.  20 

$492.  20 

10.00 

1913  

1,372 

401 

(5) 

29.23 

213,122.00 

1  13,  869.  60 

531.70 

10.00 

1914  . 

884 

267 

None. 

30.20 

130,  687.  00 

Free. 

523.  20 

1915  

2,082 

1,370 

None. 

65.80 

1,044.986.00 

Free. 

762.  80 

1916 

5  268 

3  547 

None 

67.33 

7  353  691.00 

Free. 

2,  074.  20 

1917 

4  137 

4  354 

None 

105.24 

4,  465,  5PO.  00 

Free. 

1,025.60 

1918 

4  505 

10  491 

232.  87 

11  55^  218.00 

Free 

1  101.16 

1  This  prophesy  has  since  been  fulfilled. 

2  Calculated  into  equivalent  tons  of  60  per  cent  WOj. 

3  Not  corrected.    No  data  as  to  equivalent  tons  of  60  per  cent  WO 

4  Weights  not  recorded  prior  to  July  1, 1911. 
&  No  statistics. 

6  Six;  months  ending  Dec.  31 , 1910. 

'  Duty  from  Jan.  1  to  Oct.  3, 1913,  under  act  of  1900. 


H.  GENERAL  INFORMATION. 

DESCRIPTION. 

Tungsten  metal  is  never  found  native  but  occurs  in  nature  only  in 
the  form  of  tungstates  of  iron,  manganese,  or  calcium.  The  minerals 
are  most  often  found  in  acid  rocks  (cf .  granite  or  rhyolite) ,  especially 
in  pegmatite  dikes.  Except  in  the  United  States,  it  is  usually 
accompanied  by  tin  ore  in  veins  or  placer  deposits  resulting  from  the 
erosion  of  lode  formations  and  from  the  concentration  in  stream  beds 
of  the  heavier  constituents  of  country  rock. 

Wolframite  or  iron-manganese  tungstate,  (FeMn)  WO4,  is  the  most 
common  ore  of  tungsten.  It  occurs  in  long,  dark-brown  to  black 
crystals  or  short  columnar  masses,  with  a  dark  brown  streak.  The 
hardness  is  about  5,  or  a  little  less  than  that  of  steel.  It  generally 
contains  approximately  76.4  per  cent  of  tungsten  trioxide  (WO3), 
but,  as  the  name  is  used  to  include  all  variation  in  composition  from 
pure  iron  tungstate  (ferberite)  and  pure  manganese  tungstate  (hueb- 
nerite),  the  tungsten  content  varies  slightly  as  does  the  specific 
gravity  between  the  values  for  the  respective  components.1 

Ferberite  or  iron  tungstate,  FeWO4,  is  a  dull  coal-black  mineral, 
sometimes  occurring  in  aggregates  of  cubic  crystals,  but  more  often 
massive  as  black  sooty  material  in  veins  in  pegmatite.  After 
exposure  to  the  action  of  the  weather,  ferberite  is  often  so  impreg- 
nated with  iron  oxide  as  to  appear  brown  even  along  a  fracture  surface. 
The  specific  gravity  is  7.5  and  the  hardness  5.  Ferberite  is  the  com- 
mon ore  in  Boulder  County,  Colo.,  but  has  not  been  found  in  com- 
mercial quantities  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  valuable  ore  in 
that  district,  and  the  pure  mineral  contains  76.3  per  cent  tungsten 
trioxide. 

Huebnerite  (hiibnerite)  or  manganese  tungstate,  MnWO4,is  a  reddish 
brown  mineral  of  about  the  same  hardness  as  ferberite.  The  specific 
gravity  is  about  7.2.  or  a  little  less  than  that  of  the  iron  mineral.  It 
is  found  typically  in  needle-like  crystals  in  quartz.  The  theoretical 
content  of  tungsten  trioxide  is  76.6  per  cent.  The  appearance  of 
huebnerite,  like  that  of  ferberite,  is  likely  to  be  obscured  by  the  action 
of  weathering,  and  the  mineral  in  surface  exposures  is  generally  coated 
with  black  oxide  of  manganese  or  brown  iron  oxide. 

Scheelite  or  calcium  (lime)  tungstate,  CaWO4,  is  a  totally  different 
mineral  from  the  wolframite  series.  The  color  varies  from  nearly 
pure  white  to  yellow  or  gray,  but  always  light.  Scheelite  has  not  the 
metallic  appearance  of  the  wolframite  series  and  most  other  metallic 
minerals  but  has  a  stony  look  more  like  quartz  feldspar  or  marble. 
It  is  best  distinguished  from  gangue  minerals  by  its  greater  specific 
gravity  (about  6)  and  it  has  a  greasy  luster  that  is  very  characteristic, 

1  The  following  classification  suggested  by  F.  L.  Hess  of  the  I'.  S.  Geological  Survey  has  been  adopted 
bv  some  writers  and  deserves  wider  recognition:  Kerberite,  iron  tungstate  with  not  more  than  20  per  cent 
of  manganese  tungstate;  huebnerite,  manganese  tungstate  with  not  more  than  20  per  cent  of  iron  tungstate: 
wolframite,  all  mixtures  iron  tungstate  and  manganese  tungstate  between  the  above  limits. 

16 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  17 

especially  on  a  freshly  broken  surface.  Scheelite  is  a  little  softer 
than  the  minerals  of  the  wolframite  group  (hardness  about  4.5)  but 
is  harder  than  calcite.  Pure  scheelite  contains  80.6  per  cent  tung- 
sten trioxide  (WO3),  the  highest  content  of  all  tungsten  minerals. 

The  value  of  all  tungsten  ore  depends  on  its  contents  of  tungsten. 
This  is  invariably  expressed  in  terms  of  tungsten  trioxide  (W03)  or 
tungstic  acid  (as  it  is  generally,  though  erroneously,  called).  The  ore 
as  mined  rarely  contains  more  than  a  very  small  WO3  content  and 
requires  to  be  concentrated  before  it  can  be  utilized  as  a  commercial 
product.  The  standard  "ore"  is  therefore  a  concentrated  product 
containing  approximately  60  per  cent  tungstic  acid.  Quotations 
are  given  in  terms  of  dollars  per  unit.  The  unit"  is  1  per  cent  in  a 
ton  of  total  material,  and  represents  either  20  pounds  or  22.4  pounds 
of  the  valuable  constituent,  depending  upon  whether  the  short  ton 
or  long  ton  is  referred  to. 

HISTORY. 

The  tungsten  mineral  wolframite  was- known  in  the  tin  mines  of 
Saxony-Bohemia  region,  and  later  in  Cornwall,  long  before  the  ele- 
ment tungsten  itself  was  discovered. 

In  1781  the  Swedish  chemist  Scheele  discovered  a  new  mineral 
acid;  the  stony  mineral  discovered  later  was  named  scheelite  in  his 
honor,  while  the  element  he  discovered  was  afterwards  named  tungsten 
from  the  two  Swedish  words  "tung,"  heavy,  and  "sten,"  stone.  In 
Great  Britain  and  its  Provinces  the  word  "wolfram"  has  been  com- 
pelled to  do  duty  for  both  mineral  and  metal,  but  there  is  now  a 
distinct  trend  to  the  better  usage  of  calling  the  metal  tungsten  and 
the  mineral  wolframite. 

In  1785  the  D'Elhujar  brothers  found  that  wolframite  also  con- 
tained tungsten  and  established  the  relation  of  scheelite  to  wolframite. 
They  also  succeeded  in  obtaining  metallic  tungsten  from  the  oxide 
and  were  probably  the  first  to  reduce  the  metal  from  its  compounds.1 

The  valuable  properties  imparted  to  steel  by  the  addition  of  tung- 
sten were  recognized  about  1855  and  in  1857  a  steel  maker  named 
Mushet  took  out  the  first  patent  in  England  for  its  use.  A  few  years 
later  the  manufacture  of  a  25  per  cent  alloy  was  begun  in  Germany. 
This  early  ferrotungsten  was  made  in  crucibles  on  a  very  small  scale 
and  was  very  impure.  The  use  of  tungsten  on  any  large  scale  in  the 
making  of  alloy  steel  was  insignificant  until  the  twentieth  century. 
Small  amounts  of  ore  were  made  into  chemicals  but  tungsten  and  its 
ores  were  very  unimportant  commodities. 

The  first  lot  of  domestic  ore  known  to  have  been  produced  and  sold 
in  the  United  States  was  in  1900.  The  price  was  then  about  $2  a  unit. 
Since  1901  the  growth  of  the  tungsten  industry  has  been  fairly  rapid. 
Germany  was  the  chief  market  for  ore  and  a  large  part  of  the  world 
output  was  shipped  there,  to  be  reduced  to  metal  or  ferroalloy  or 
exported  to  other  countries. 

The  history  of  the  mining  of  tungsten  in  every  country  shows  a 
marked  similarity.  Although  the  occurrence  of  tungsten  is  wide- 
spread, the  individual  deposits  are  never  of  large  extent.  They  are 
usually  pockety.  The  ore  comes  in  lenticular  snoots,  and  masses  in 

1  From  Bulletin  652.    Tungsten  Minerals  and  Deposits,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 
128894—19 3 


18  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 

veins  or  irregularly  distributed  along  contacts.  When  a  new  dis- 
trict is  first  discovered  a  great  deal  of  float  ore  may  often  be  found. 
Later  the  surface  ore  is  gophered  out.  Up  to  this  stage  the  tungsten 
ore  is  easily  and  quickly  mined,  and  the  production  is  large  and  low 
costs  prevail.  Then  follows  the  period  of  searching  for  ore  under- 
ground. This  is  a  different  problem.  The  geology  of  tungsten  de- 
posits is  not  well  understood.  Underground  prospecting  is  difficult. 
The  "leads''  are  hard  to  follow,  and,  almost  invariably,  a  large 
amount  of  deadwork  needs  to  be  done  before  a  new  shoot  is  found. 
After  drifting  along  a  narrow  vein  or  crosscutting  through  barren 
rock,  it  often  happens  that  even  if  more  ore  is  discovered,  its  value  is 
insufficient  to  pay,  in  addition  to  the  cost  of  its  extraction,  the  heavy 
cost  of  looking  for  it.  This  is  the  period  of  depression.  Temporary 
excitement  or  a  "boom"  like  that  which  swept  over  Colorado  ami 
the  whole  world  in  1916  when  the  price  soared  to  record  heights,  may 
bring  about  a  greater  production,  but  this  is  mostly  obtained  from 
extremely  low-grade  material  and  at  high  cost.  Very  few,  if  any, 
districts  have  emerged  from  the  stages  of  unprofitable  underground 
prospecting  and  development  to  the  establishment  of  a  permanent, 
profitable  producing  stage.  Tungsten  has  the  repntation  of  "play- 
ing out"  at  depth.  The  character  of  the  ore  is  such  as  to  preclude 
this  possibility  and  tungsten  is  no  njpre  likely  to  pinch  out  vertically 
than  horizontally,  but  as  the  depth  increases  the  pockets  are  harder 
and  more  expensive  to  find. 

USES. 

At  least  95  per  cent  of  all  the  tungsten  ores  produced  at  the 
present  time  go  into  the  manufacture  of  tungsten  powder,  ferro- 
tungsten,  and  tungsten  steel  for  the  making  of  high-speed  tool 
steels.  The  addition  of  tungsten  to  steel  gives  it  the  property  of 
holding  its  temper  at  a  much  higher  heat  than  that  at  which  simple 
carbon  steels,  and  most  other  alloy  steels,  become  soft  and  worth- 
less. This  property  of  red  hardness,  as  it  is  called,  is  very  important 
in  cutting  tools,  as  it  allows  speeding  up  the  work  to  five  or  six 
times  the  cutting  speed  allowable  with  simple  carbon  steel  tools. 
The  strength  and  comparative  toughness  of  tungsten-steel  lathe 
tools,  even  when  very  hot  permits  taking  a  very  heavy  cut  or  shav- 
ing off  the  work  and  the  chips  often  leave  the  tool  so  hot  that  they 
turn  blue.  The  rapid  advance  in  cutting  metals  and  the  great 
increase  in  efficiency  in  machine  shops  in  late  years  is  in  a  large 
measure  due  to  the  development  of  tungsten  tool  steel. 

A  new  use  for  tungsten  steel  is  for  aeroplane  engine  valves  and 
seats.  For  several  years  tungsten  steel  has  been  the  most  satisfac- 
tory material  for  the  permanent  magnetos  (used  for  telephones 
and  internal  combustion  engine  ignition). 

An  important  use  of  tungsten  ores,  though  one  that  consumes 
but  a  negligible  amount,  is  the  making  of  pure  tungsten  wire  for 
incandescent  lamp  filaments.  A  little  tungsten  goes  into  electric 
contact  points  for  spark  coils,  etc.  (as  a  substitute  for  platinum). 

Steel  containing  2  or  3  per  cent  of  tungsten  is  in  general  use  for 
saw  blades. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  19 

Formerly  sodium  tungstate  and  other  tungsten-containing  chemi- 
cals were  used  to  some  extent  in  weighting  silk,  mordanting,  and 
other  purposes  but  this  consumption  has  practically  ceased  on 
account  of  the  high  cost  of  tungsten. 

SUBSTITUTES. 

No  satisfactory  substitute  for  tungsten  has  been  found  for  alloy- 
ing with  steel  for  high-speed  cutting  tools.  Molybdenum  has  some- 
what similar  properties,  and  although  it  has  been  used  to  some 
extent,  especially  in  Europe,  it  has  never  proved  so  satisfactory  and 
is  now  generally  used  in  conjunction  with  tungsten,  replacing  only 
a  part  of  the  latter.  Stellite,  an  alloy  of  cobalt  and  chromium,  is 
sometimes  used  for  cutting  tools  as  a  substitute  for  high-speed  steel. 
The  most  satisfactory  stellite  alloy  for  cutting,  however,  contains 
tungsten  as  a  hardening  constituent,  although  molybdenum  is  also 
employed  instead  of  the  tungsten  in  this  alloy. 

The  high  prices  of  1916  stimulated  conservation  of  tungsten,  and 
most  cutting  tools  are  now  made  with  an  ordinary  carbon  steel 
stock  with  only  a  short  piece  of  high-priced  tungsten  steel  welded 
on  the  end.  This  practice  results  in  a  marked  saving  in  the  metal 
and  was  a  large  factor  in  breaking  the  price. 

Chromium  as  well  as  molybdenum  has  to  some  extent  replaced 
tungsten  in  the  making  of  magnet  steel. 1 

MINING   METHODS. 

Placer  tungsten  may  be  worked  by  any  of  the  usual  methods  for 
the  recovery  of  gold  or  tin  in  placer  deposits.  Except  when  asso- 
ciated with  tin  or  gold,  tungsten  is  not  known  to  be  mined  by  dredg- 
ing, as  the  deposits  are  rarely  of  sufficient  extent  to  warrant  the 
cost  of  erecting  so  expensive  a  device.  Hand  washing  in  pans  or 
sluices  is  the  usual  procedure,  but  in  large-scale  operations,  hydrau- 
licking  is  done. 

Lode  mining  does  not  differ  essentially  from  the  mining  of  other 
ores  except  that  tungsten  rarely  is  found  in  sufficient  amounts  or  in 
shoots  regular  enough  to  permit  of  systematic  extraction.  As  a 
rule  the  valuable  material  forms  a  narrow,  tight  streak  in  the  rock. 
These  streaks  are  usually  only  a  few  inches  wide;  and  as  a  man  can 
not  work  for  any  length  of  time  in  a  space  less  than  18  to  24  inches 
wide,  much  barren  waste  must  be  broken  separately  to  make  room. 
Care  must  be  taken  to  prevent  the  mixing  of  this  rock  with  the  ore. 
This  is  often  difficult  as  the  tungsten  stringers  are  " frozen"  tight  to 
the  walls  and,  although  hard,  are  easily  fractured  and  lost.  To 
further  complicate  the  extraction  of  tungsten,  the  country  rock  and 
vein  formation  are  usually  very  hard.  It  is  evident  that  these  con- 
ditions require  a  peculiar  type  of  miner  and  one  who  has  a  personal 
interest  in  saving  every  possible  particle  of  valuable  material.  This 
necessity  fosters  the  employment  of  "leasers"  (lessees)  or  "tribu- 
ters" — each  man,  or  group  of  men,  working  for  himself  and  being 
paid  for  the  ore  he  gets  out — rather  than  the  usual  system  of  day's 

pay. 

1  See  Tariff  Information  Catalogue  on  Ferrotungsten. 


20  UNITED  STATES  TAEIFF   COMMISSION   REPORT. 

CONCENTRATION   OR   MILLING. 

The  tendency  of  all  tungsten  minerals  to  slime,  coupled  with  the 
necessity  of  very  fine  grinding  to  separate  them  from  the  waste  rock, 
complicates  their  economical  recovery  in  the  milling  operation. 
Stamps  were  formerly  in  common  use  for  the  secondary  crushing  after 
the  breaker,  but  these  relics  of  gold  milling  are  notorious  producers  of 
slime  and  material  too  fine  to  be  recovered  effectually  by  any  mechan- 
ical process.  Stamps  have,  therefore,  disappeared  from  most  of  the 
mills  and  have  been  replaced  by  several  sets  of  rolls  which  succes- 
sively reduce  the  size  01  the  ore  with  a  minimum  of  sliming.  Only 
a  small  proportion  of  tungsten  concentrate  is  recovered  by  jigging  the 
coarse  sizes.  The  bulk  of  the  recovery  is  on  the  sand  and  slime 
tables.  The  last  slime  is.  still  run  through  a  "rag  plant"  (canvas 
tables)  at  many  mills  with  an  economical  saving. 

The  desideratum  of  concentration  is  the  production  of  a  concen- 
trate containing  60  per  cent  or  more  tungsten- trioxide,  but  the  pro- 
duction of  so  high  grade  a  product  from  the  usual  ore  containing  only 
2  to  10  per  cent  WO3,  results  in  high  losses  and  much  waste  of  tung- 
sten. To  increase  the  extraction,  many  mills  make  two  grades  of 
concentrate;  a  high  grade  sand  concentrate,  containing  approxi- 
mately 60  per  cent  WO3  and  suitable  for  making  ferrotungsten  in  the 
electric  furnace;  and  a  slime  concentrate  of  lower  grade,  containing 
about  20  per  cent  WO3,  and  suitable  only  for  a  chemical  process. 

If  any  heavy  minerals  besides  tungsten  are  present  in  the  ore,  the 
enriched  product  from  simple  gravity  concentration  contains  these 
other  minerals  also  and  they  must  be  removed,  either  because  they 
lower  the  grade  too  much  or  because  they  are  actually  deleterious  ta 
the  product.  The  usual  auxiliary  process  is  magnetic  separation  and 
the  method  of  its  application  depends  on  the  character  of  the  material. 
Many  foreign  ores  contain  tin  as  well  as  sulphide  minerals.  In  the 
United  States  the  chief  contaminants  of  the  concentrate  are  sulphides. 
Iron  sulphide  can  be  easily  removed  by  a  weak  magnet  after  a  light 
roast.  Ferberite  and  even  wolframite  are  slightly  magnetic  and  can 
be  picked  out  by  a  strong  magnet,  leaving  nonmagnetic  sulphides  and 
tin  as  a  separate  and,  frequently,  a  salable  product. 

There  has  been  marked  progress  in  the  milling  of  tungsten  ores  in 
the  last  few  years,  but  it  is  still  a  by  no  means  easy  problem  to  get  a 
satisfactory  recovery  of  the  minerals  in  a  sufficiently  high  grade 
product.  Extractions  of  over  80  per  cent  are  reported,  but  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  average  mill  recovers  70  per  cent  01  the  values,  and 
this  on  ore  that  is  fairly  high  grade  as  compared  to  ores  of  other 
metals.  It  is  not  practicable  to  treat  any  material  with  less  than 

1  per  cent  of  tungsten  oxide,  and  in  most  districts  ore  with  less  than 

2  per  cent  is  not  worth  treating.     Ore  containing  1  per  cent  of  WO3 
may  have  a  theoretical  value  of  over  $20  a  ton,  but  it  is  seldom  profit- 
able to  mill  it  even  when  it  has  been  mined  and  on  the  dump,  whereas 
ores  of  gold,  copper,  or  lead  with  a  theoretical  value  of  only  $2  or 
less  per  ton  are  profitably  concentrated.     The  reason  is  the  high  cost 
of  the  separation.     A  relatively  expensive  plant  is  required  and  the 
ore  must  be  put  through  slowly — often  rerun — in  order  to  get  a  fair 
recovery. 

Chemical  concentration  is  rarely  resorted  to  because  it  is  even  more 
expensive  than  the  mechanical  processes.  Its  main  field  is  in  the 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES. 


21 


separation  of  foreign  ores  containing  tin  and  other  impurities  and  in 
the  treatment  of  low-grade  slime  concentrate.  The  usual  method  1 
is  to  decompose  the  material  by  fusing  it  with  soda  ash,  forming 
sodium  tungstate,  which  can  be  leached  out  with  hot  water.  In  the 
case  of  siliceous  ores  the  consumption  of  soda  is  prohibitive,  but  it  is 
possible  to  leave  tin  and  most  of  the  other  metal  oxides  practically 
unattacked.  The  solution  containing  the  sodium  tungstate  is 
treated  with  muriatic  (hydrochloric)  acid  which  precipitates  tungstic 
acid  (H2WO4).  The  tungstic  acid,  after  ignition  to  the  anhydride 
(or  tungsten  trioxide,  WO3),  can  be  reduced  to  metal  powder  by 
means  of  coal  or  in  a  stream  of  hydrogen. 

COUNTRIES    OF   LARGEST   PRODUCTION. 

Tungsten  ore  is  widely  distributed  and  is  found  in  all  the  conti- 
nents of  the  world  and  in  a  great  number  of  countries;  but  no  single 
country  produces  a  very  great  amount  and  the  resources  of  almost 
every  corner  of  the  globe  are  drawn  on  to  furnish  a  supply.  Burma 
(and  the  Shan  States)  is  the  largest  individual  producer,  and  in  1917 
mined  21.4  per  cent  of  the  total  world  output.  The  United  States  was 
the  next  largest  producer,  furnishing  17.1  per  cent,  while  Bolivia  was  a 
close  third  with  a  production  amounting  to  about  15.8  per  cent  of  the 
world's  total.  These  three  large  producers,  therefore,  accounted  for 
only  a  little  more  than  one-half  of  the  production ;  the  remainder  was 
drawn  in  small  amounts  from  many  other  countries — especially  in 
Asia.  In  the  same  year  Asiatic  countries  produced  41.8  per  cent  of 
the  world's  output;  South  American  countries,  22.2;  North  American 
countries,  18.4  per  cent;  European  countries,  11.3  per  cent,  and  Aus- 
tralia and  New  Zealand,  6.3  per  cent.  Africa  is  the  only  continent 
that  does  not  make  an  important  contribution  to  the  tungsten  supply. 
Even  Africa,  however,  reports  an  annual  output. 

The  following  table  shows  the  world's  production,  the  United 
States  production,  and  the  percentage  of  the  world's  total  produced 
by  the  United  States: 

Concentrates  60  per  cent  W03. 


Year. 

World's 
produc- 
tion. 

United 
States 
produc- 
tion. 

Per  cent 
produced 
by 
United 

States. 

1910.. 

Short  tons. 
7,570 

Short  tons. 
1,821 

24  06 

1911  

7,517 

1,139 

15.15 

1912  

9,654 

1,330 

13.78 

1913  

8  476 

1  537 

18  13 

1914  

7,877 

990 

12  57 

1915  

12,  328 

2,332 

18.92 

1916  

23  671 

5  900 

24  92 

1917  

27  007 

4  633 

17.  12 

Another  commercial  chemical  method  is  outlined  in  the  confidential  files  of  the  commission. 


22 


UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 


The  world's  production  of  tungsten  ore,  by  countries,  estimated  so  far  as  possible  in  short 
tons  of  concentrates  containing  60  per  cent  of  tungsten  trioxide. 


Country. 

Year. 

Year. 

1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

1916 

1917 

U91S 

Short 
tons. 

Short 
tons. 

Short 
tons. 

Short 
tons. 

Short 
tons. 

Short 
tons. 

Short 
tons. 

Short 
tons. 

Short 
tons. 

Africa:  South  Africa  

0) 
407 

P) 

1,119 

W 
2,095 

0) 
1,905 

0) 

2,055 

1 

2 

«5 

25 
20,310 

Asia  

Burma  and  Shan  States  

3,010 

4,637 
120 
552 
250 
UOO 
771 
750 
48 
584 
329 

25,806 
21,500 
795 
250 

2100 

2775 
993 
250 
660 
*350 

China    .      ,                         .  .  .  ..             ...... 

Federated  Malay  States  

105 
19 

205 

275 
81 

273 
100 
0) 
327 

317 
119 

% 

363 
219 
(l) 

478 

French  Indo-China  (Tonkin) 

TnHi!\  (Tint,  including  Tlurma) 

23 

Japan  "  

275 

287 

225 

Korea  (Chosen) 

Johore  and  Kedah 

Siam  . 

200 

200 

1 

33 
173 

244 
50 
442 
61 

0)1 

475 
175 

Trengganu  (Malay  Peninsula)  .. 

Australia  .^.\.  .  "  

413 
78 
1,145 
75 
31 
2 

512 

71 
750 
86 
33 
12 

298 
44 
944 
87 
13 
(') 

220 
42 

587 
89 
1 

1 

1,150 

New  South  Wales 

109 
50 
708 
150 
(') 
(') 

345 
45 
503 
2124 
1 
(') 

20 
10 

2300 
250 
519 
292 
(') 
(l) 
C1) 

60 

Northern  Territory  . 

Queensland  

TasTiiivnift  . 

Victoria  .                 .                 . 



Western  Australia  

South  Australia 

East  Indies: 
Billiton 

21 

21 

8 

73 
216 
252 
111 
1,466 
202 

20 
10 

75 
204 
300 
150 
900 
179 

20 
10 

75 
230 
300 
150 
1,000 
175 

20 
10 

Singkep  . 

12 

Europe 

54 
307 
33 
105 
1,132 
169 

50 
298 
188 
80 
1,078 
106 

3,000 

Austria 

75 
399 
200 
150 
1,038 
211 

2150 
464 
182 
350 
1,563 
187 
6 
446 

175 
(l) 
5,900 

2  150 

England 

France.  ..                 

*  182 
2200 
1,741 
360 
6 
2550 

341 

(rfirman  KmpirA  (f?avr>ny) 

Portugal  .  .  '                  .  .  ,                ... 

Spain 

Italy 

Oceania,  New  Zealand  

187 

184 

181 

297 

274 

261 

155 
V 
2,332 

400 
326 

North  America: 
Mexico  . 

Nova  Scotia.  .                     

83 
1,821 

826 
232 

0) 
1,139 

683 
370 

17 
1,330 

702 
547 

12 

1,537 

591 
328 

(l) 
990 

482 
320 

United  States  

4,633 

5,046 
6,300 

Ponf.h   Amflrif^                   .......... 

Argentina  .           ,      .,      ,.    , 

189 
902 

908 
3,624 
6 
9 
586 

i,666 

4,229 

Bolivia  

Brazil  .                         .... 

Chile 

210 

2700 

Peru  

15 

57 

241 

327 

130 

455 

Total  

7,570 

7,517 

9,629 

8,476 

7,877 

12,225 

23,671   27,067 

36,557 

1  No  tungsten  ore  produced  so  far  as  can  be  learned.    Figures  in  the  above  table  were  derived  from  vari- 
ous sources  published  by  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  in  Mineral  Resources. 

2  Estimated. 

DOMESTIC   PRODUCTION   AND   RESOURCES. 

Colorado  was  the  chief  tungsten  producer  of  the  United  States 
for  14  years.  In  1914,  the  production  of  California  was  greater 
than  that  of  Colorado.  In  1916  and  again  in  1917,  their  respective 
productions  were  practically  equal  and  their  combined  output  is 
about  90  per  cent  of  the  total  output  of  the  country.  Nevada  is 
the  third  largest  producing  State,  but  its  output  is  considerably  less 
than  that  of  either  of  the  first  two.  Arizona  is  a  small  but  regular 
producer.  South  Dakota  has  been  an  intermittent  producer  of  wol- 
framite, which  is  found  in  association  with  the  gold  ore  of  the  Black 
Hills.  Tungsten  ore  has  also  been  produced  in  New  Mexico  (wol- 
framite), Utah  (scheelite),  Idaho  (huebnerite) ,  Missouri,  and  Con- 
necticut, and  showings  have  been  reported  in  other  States. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES. 
PRODUCTION  IN  UNITED   STATES. 

Tungsten-bearing  ores  (concentrates  containing  60  per  cent  W03}. 
[Figures  from  Mineral  Resources,  United  States  Geological  Survey.] 


23 


19 

10 

19 

11 

19 

12 

States. 

Quantitv 
(long 
tons). 

Value. 

Quantity 
(long 
tons). 

Value. 

Quantity 
(long 
tons). 

Value. 

Arizona                         » 

P) 

0) 

45 

$16  559 

24 

$9  566 

California  

(l) 

f>) 

(i) 

(ft 

(i) 

(i) 

Colorado  

1,090 

$535,567 

652 

234  513 

725 

297,533 

Idaho  

(i) 

0) 

(i) 

(i) 

Nevada  

(i) 

(1) 

(i) 

(i) 

New  Mexico  

South  Dakota  

268 

64 

Washington  

92 

51  768 

(i) 

(1) 

Alaska  

Connecticut... 

Utah  

All  other 

176 

245  593 

320 

156  913 

438 

195  059 

Total  

1,626 

832,992 

1,017 

407,  985 

1,187 

502,  158 

19 

13 

19 

14 

19 

15 

States  or  cities. 

Quantity 
(long 
tons). 

Value. 

Quantity 
(long 
tons). 

Value. 

Quantity 
(long 
tons). 

Value. 

Arizona  

14 

$6,069 

13 

$6,  435 

113 

S245,  360 

California 

483 

226  260 

0) 

(i) 

859 

1  005  467 

Colorado 

851 

428,  760 

417 

182,013 

860 

2  311,200 

Idaho  . 

(i) 

(i) 

(i) 

(i) 

29 

47,  602 

Nevada  

(i) 

(i) 

49 

130,466 

New  Mexico 

(i) 

(i) 

(i) 

(i) 

40 

70,  934 

South  Dakota 

0) 

(i) 

125 

181,089 

Washington  

(') 

(') 

(i) 

(i) 

Alaska 

(i) 

(i) 

Connecticut 

(i) 

(i) 

Utah 

(i) 

(i) 

(i) 

(i) 

All  other 

24 

11,029 

454 

246,  552 

107,  882 

Total 

1,372 

672  118 

884 

435  000 

2,082 

4,100,000 

19 

16 

19 

17 

19 

18 

States  or  cities. 

Quantity 
(long 
tons). 

Value. 

Quantity 
(long 
tons). 

Value. 

Quantity 
(long 
tons).2 

Value. 

Alaska 

41 

2.") 

25 

Arizona        

195 

156 

190 

1  912 

1,951 

1,590 

Colorado 

2  108 

1,893 

1,705 

Connecticut    

3 

Idaho 

90 

4 

Montana               ... 

1 



20 

4 

615 

790 

New  Mexico  ...          .       . 

14 

1 

South  Dakota 

213 

3  185 

Utah 

36 

10 

All  other           

108 

Total           

*  5,  243 

1  4,  137 

4,  505 



1  Included  in  "All  other." 

2  Subject  to  revision. 

3  Includes  Utah. 

4  Later  figures  (subject  to  revision)  show  5,208  long  tons  in  191t 


24  UNITED  STATES  TAEIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 

Colorado. — Practically  all  the  Colorado  output  is  mined  in  Boulder 
County.  The  tungsten  is  found  in  a  belt  nearly  12  miles  long  and 
about  7  miles  wide,  situated  about  25  miles  northwest  from  Denver 
and  centering  about  Nederland.  Prior  to  1914  this  district  pro- 
duced fully  60  per  cent  of  the  tungsten  output  of  the  United  States, 
75  to  80  per  cent  of  which  came  from  shallow  workings  that  are  now 
exhausted. 

The  dominant  ore  is  ferberite,  which  is  not  mined  to  any  extent 
in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  It  is  typically  difficult  to  mine,  as 
it  is  usually  found  in  very  narrow  seams  or  comparatively  small 
lenses  in  very  hard  granite  or  gneiss.  The  absence  of  tinstone, 
tourmaline,  and  other  common  associates  of  tungsten  minerals  is 
noteworthy.  The  Boulder  County  ore  is  exceptionally  free  from 
impurities  and  generally  commands  a  higher  price  than  foreign 
ores  because  of  its  extreme  purity.  The  average  grade  of  the  ore 
in  Boulder  County  is  perhaps  5  per  cent  WOg,1  and  the  dump  ore  at 
producing  mines  will  contain  about  0.5  per  cent.  It  is  significant 
that  the  great  excitement  of  1915-16  failed  to  open  up  any  impor- 
tant new  ore  bodies  in  this  district.  Practically  all  the  large  areas 
of  float  ore  and  the  easily  mined  surface  deposits  are  exhausted,  and 
now  the  production  comes  almost  wholly  from  fairly  deep  workings, 
which  are  more  expensive  to  mine.  The  ore  shoots  are  variable  in 
length  and  depth.  The  average  thickness  of  the  mineral  bearing 
vein  matter  is  only  a  few  inches. 

In  1916  there  were  10  concentrating  mills  operating  in  the  dis- 
trict, but  in  1918  fully  half  of  them  were  shut  down.  Only  j&e 
larger  companies  have  survived.  A  large  proportion  of  the  pro- 
ducing properties  are  owned  and  operated  by  consumers  of  tung- 
sten, i.  e.,  steel  companies  or  manufacturers  of  ferrotungsten  and 
other  tungsten  products.  Mining  and  development  are  done  al- 
most exclusively  under  the  leasing  system,  the  "leaser"  being  paid 
for  the  ore  he  extracts  (after  deducting  a  royalty).  When  an  un- 
usual amount  of  prospecting  or  "dead"  work  is  necessary,  the  ex- 
pense is  either  shared  by  the  company  and  the  lessee  or  done  on 
"company  account." 

Tungsten -ore  has  been  mined  at  various  other  localities  in  Colo- 
rado, notably  in  the  southern  section,  where  huebnerite  is  the  chief 
ore.  The  production  has  never  been  important,  and  practically  all 
.  these  mines  ceased  operations  in  1917  or  earlier. 

California. — California  is  the  largest  producer  of  scheelite  in  the 
world.  The  greatest  proved  bodies  of  tungsten  ore  in  the  United 
States,  and  perhaps  in  the  entire  world,  are  those  of  the  Atolia-Rand 
district  in  San  Bernardino  County  in  the  southwesterly  section  of  this 
State.  The  Atolia  deposit  has  been  worked  to  a  depth  of  700  feet, 
vertical,  and  the  width  has  in  many  places  exceeded  three  feet  of 
tungsten  bearing  material,  consisting  largely  of  scheelite  and  quartz. 
Like  the  Colorado  ore,  the  California  product  is  exceptionally  free 
from  harmful  impurities.  Since  the  adverse  prejudice  of  consumers 
has  been  overcome,  the  California  scheelite  has  commanded  a  premium 
over  imported  ores  and  even  over  the  Boulder  County  concentrate 
which  is  more  difficult  to  reduce. 

1  Brief  of  Tungsten  Producers,  Tariff  Commission,  Denver  Conference. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  25 

The  deposits  are  found  along  more  or  less  continuous  fissures  and 
may  be  broadly  classed  as  contact  metamorphic  deposits  in  distinc- 
tion from  the  stringer  lodes  of  Colorado.  The  deposits,  therefore, 
are  often  of  much  larger  extent,  although  frequently  low  grade. 
The  same  geological  formation  found  at  Atolia  extends  east  and  west. 
Westward,  the  ore  in  Kern  county  is  wholly  scheelite.  Eastward, 
more  or  less  of  the  wolframite  series  of  tungsten  minerals  is  found 
along  with  the  lime  tungstate.  Scheelite  is  the  principal  tungsten 
mineral  so  far  produced  in  California  and  the  wolframite  deposits, 
especially  those  dominantly  of  huebnerite,  have  been  generally  low 
grade  and  pockety.  There  is  no  ferberite,  but  there  are  two  districts 
in  San  Bernardino  county  where  the  ore  is  characteristically 
wolframite. 

There  are  four  counties  in  this  State  from  which  tungsten  has 
come,  San  Bernardino,  Inyo,  Kern,  and  Nevada.  By  far  the  largest 
production  has  been  derived  from  San  Bernardino  and  the  major 
part  of  this  has  come  from  the  Atolia  Mining  Co.  which  began  pro- 
ducing in  1908  and  has  maintained  active  mining  ever  since.  One 
of  the  most  interesting  developments  in  the  last  few  years  has  been 
that  in  Inyo  county,  where  the  ores  differ  from  the  more  distinctly 
lode  occurrences  of  other  sections,  as  the  scheelite  is  disseminated 
through  metamorphic  rock.  The  ore  bodies  are  much  larger  than 
even  the  big  Atolia  deposit  but  the  average  grade  of  the  ore  treated 
is  less  than  one  per  cent  (occasionally  as  low  as  0.5  per  cent)  whereas 
the  ore  of  the  Atolia  Co.  runs  from  two  to  eight  per  cent  WO3  in  the 
mill  dirt  and  some  high  grade  is  obtained  by  sorting.  There  are  four 
mills  operating  in  Inyo  county  (1918).  The  production  from  Kern 
county  and  from  the  balance  of  the  Atolia  district,  outside  of  the  Atolia 
Mining  Co.,  comes  largely  from  small  operators  who  produce  a  few 
tons  here  and  there,  partly  from  lodes  and  partly  from  placer  work- 
ings. "It  appears,  however,  that  there  are  large  bodies  of  low-grade 
ore  from  which  economical  recovery  could  be  made  if  the  price  was  a 
sufficient  inducement.''1  A  small  amount  of  scheelite  has  been  pro- 
duced in  Nevada  county,  over  300  miles  from  Atolia. 

Nevada. — The  only  important  production  so  far  made  by  Nevada 
was  in  1916  when  615  tons  of  60  per  cent  concentrate  were  produced. 
The  most  extensive  production  has  come  from  White  Pine  County 
and  from  Sodaville  in  liumboldt  County.  The  ore  is  largely  scheelite. 
During  the  period  of  high  prices  (1915-16)  these  counties  were  very 
active  but  nearly  all  operations  were  discontinued  Soon  after  the 
spectacular  decline  in  the  tungsten  market.  Extraordinary  finds  of 
large  bodies  of  high-grade  ore  have  been  reported  from  time  to  time, 
in  various  parts  of  the  State,  but  the  sudden  cessation  of  output 
coincident  with  the  break  in  price  raises  some  question  as  to  the 
accuracy  of  the  statements.  The  evidence  submitted  at  the  United 
States  Tariff  Commission  conference  in  San  Francisco,  especially 
the  statements  of  Messrs.  Ackerman  and  Bradley,  indicates  a  strong 
probability  of  the  existence  of  important  bodies  of  low  grade  ore, 
particularly  in  Nye  and  Mineral  Counties.  In  these  counties,  no  lode 
deposits  have  been  exploited,  but  a  very  large  tonnage  of  placer 
material  is  said  to  be  available.  There  is  a  large  ore-body  at  Bishop, 
Inyo  County,  that  is  believed  will  eventually  furnish  a  large  supply 

1  W.  W.  Bradley  (representing  Fletcher  Hamilton,  State  mineralogist  of  California),  United  States 
Tariff  Commission  San  Francisco  Conference  Report,  p.  57. 


26  UXITED  STATES  TAKIFF   COMMISSION  REPOET. 

of  tungsten  at  a  very  low  cost.  The  development  of  the  low  grade 
deposits  of  Nevada  will  require  a  considerable  outlay  of  capital. 
The  tungsten  area  can  be  broadly  considered  as  a  continuation  of 
the  California  formations,  which  it  resembles  in  many  particulars. 
There  is  a  larger  proportion  of  wolframite,  especially  huebnerite, 
but  scheelite  is  the  dominant  tungsten  mineral.  Many  of  the  deposits 
also  contain  sulphide  minerals,  but  a  good  grade  of  concentrate  can 
be  made  as  there  are  few  very  objectionable  impurities. 

Alaska. — Although  scheelite  had  been  known  to  exist  in  several  of 
the  Alaskan  placers,  the  demand  was  insufficient  to  encourage  its- 
recovery  until  1915  The  production  has  never  exceeded  50  tons  a 
year  and  this  is  mainly  a  by-product  of  the  gold-dredging  operations 
in  the  Nome  placers.  There  is  a  small  lode  production  in  the  Fair- 
banks district. 

FOREIGN   PRODUCTION   AND   RESOURCES. 

Burma. — Burma,  including  the  Shan  States,  has  been  the  largest 
producer  of  tungsten  in  the  world  since  1912.  It  is  one  of  the  newest 
tungsten  producing  areas.  The  first  important  output  was  made  in 
1910. 

There  are  four  important  districts  found  in  a  belt  about  56  miles 
long  and  7  miles  wide  and  at  least  50  producing  mines.  The  ore  is 
wolframite  and  the  output  has  come  largely  from  placers  and  surface 
float.  Ground  sluicing  is  the  common  method  of  recovering  the  valu- 
able mineral,  but  hydraulicking  is  employed  at  some  of  the  larger 
properties  and  lode  mining  is  on  the  increase.  The  most  important 
lode  district  is  Tavoy,  where  the  veins  are  found  in  a  schist  of  sedi- 
mentary origin,  capping  granite.  No  lowering  in  grade  has  been 
reported  as  the  veins  extend  downward  into  the  granite;  but  the  width 
is  generally  less — a  vein  2.5  feet  wide  in  the  schist,  narrowing  down 
to  2  feet  or  less  in  the  granite.  All  the  tungsten  deposits  contain  tin, 
which  is  frequently  an  important  by-product.  Other  harmful  im- 
purities, such  as  galena,  pyrite,  columbite,  and  molybdenite,  are 
also  invariably  present. 

The  Burmese  tungsten  industry  passed  from  German  to  British 
control  in  1915.  All  shipments  had  formerly  been  made  to  Hamburg 
and  the  assays  made  by  the  German  Government  for  the  duty 
assessment  (2.5  per  cent  ad  valorem)1  were  accepted  by  buyers  and 
sellers  as  the  Basis  of  settlement.  The  outbreak  of  the  war  resulted 
in  a  temporary  derangement  of  the  tungsten  industry  in  this  area, 
and  in  spite  of  the  urgent  need  of  the  British  Government  for  tungsten, 
Burma  did  not  respond  rapidly  at  first.  Prospecting  is  hindered 
by  heavy  rainfall  in  the  summer  months,  amounting  to  200  inches 
from  May  to  November.  Lack  of  transportation  and  title  diffi- 
culties were  serious  handicaps  in  addition  to  a  shortage  of  labor. 
The  British  Government  took  an  active  part  in  the  mining  and  mar- 
keting of  Burmese  tungsten  in  the  fall  of  1915.  The  government 
imported  coolies  and  managers  to  work  the  mines  and  claims  that 
were  lying  practically  idle,  and  built  roads  and  bridges.  Under  this, 
stimulus,  production  increased  50  per  cent  in  1915  and  the  output  in 

1  Mineral  Industry,  XXIII  (1914),  p.  754.    Probably  a  countervailing  tariff  as  tungsten  ore  is  normally 
admitted  free  into  Germany  under  the  act  of  1906. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING   ORES.  27 

1917  was  almost  three  times  as  great  as  in  1914.  There  was  some 
protest  from  mine  owners  because  of  the  importation  of  1,500  coolies 
that  had  no  mining  experience  and  had  been  promised  high  wages 
(comparatively);  but  the  main  contention  was  the  fixing  of  the 
maximum  price  of  55s.  ($13.365)  per  long  ton  unit  (22.4  pounds) 
of  WO3  when  prices  in  neutral  countries  were  several  times  as  much. 
That  this  price  did  not  allow  sufficient  profit  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  it  was  later  (1917)  increased  to  60s.  ($14.60)  a  long  ton  unit 
(These  quotations  were  for  65  per  cent  concentrate,  f.  o.  b.  Liverpool.) 

The  labor  in  Burma  is  almost  wholly.  Chinese  under  the  direction 
of  white  superintendents.  Mining  and  development  are  usually  under 
contract.  In  spite  of  the  large  increase  in  the  output,  the  methods 
of  mining  are  still  primitive.  Most  of  the  crushing  is  done  by  hand 
hammers  and  the  ore  is  concentrated  in  cradles  (by  hand).  There 
is  seldom  any  attempt  to  remove  tin  at  the  mine.  Some  of  the  ore 
is  treated  with  magnetic  separators  to  take  out  the  tin  before  shipping 
to  England,  but  usually  the  mixed  product  is  shipped.  One  or 
more  magnetic  separators  have  recently  been  installed  at  Rangoon. 

Other  Asiatic  countries. — Nearly  all  the  tin  mines  of  the  Malay 
Peninsula  produce  more  or  less  tungsten  as  a  by-product.  Smaller 
amounts  are  mined  in  French  Indo-China  (Tonkin)  and  in  Siam. 
Most  of  the  ore  is  wolframite,  although  some  scheelite  is  found.  The 
Siamese  area  is  a  continuation  of  the  Burmese  and  the  ore  is  found 
on  surface.  Laborers  are  paid  not  over  50  cents  (gold)  a  day.  The 
cost  of  production  is  very  low,  the  chief  expense  is  the  government 
tax  (30  to  40  per  cent)  and  the  cost  of  bags  which  is  very  high  in  that 
country.  Permits  for  export  were  subject  to  the  control  of  the  British 
legation  at  Bangkok  and  were  practically  impossible  to  get  in  1918. 
The  ore  cost  $15  to  $17  a  unit,  c.  i.  f.  American  ports.1 

A  new  and  probably  important  production  comes  from  southern 
China  in  the  Provinces  of  Hunan  and  Kwantung.  The  production 
in  1917  was  more  than  100  tons  a  month.  The  work  was  done  en- 
tirely by  hand,  most  of  the  ore  being  merely  picked  up  off  the  ground. 
The  product  had  to  be  carried  on  men's  backs  or  little  river  junks  to 
Canton,  whence  it  was  shipped  to  Hongkong.  It  came  under  British 
control  at  Hongkong  and  permits  to  ship  to  the  United  States  were 
not  granted  in  1917. 

The  total  output  of  Japan  and  Korea  (Chosen)  in  1917  was  prac- 
tically 1,770  tons  (on  the  basis  of  60  per  cent  concentrate),  nearly 
1,000  tons  of  which  came  from  the  latter  country.  Korea  is  likely 
to  become  a  more  important  producer  as  soon  as  the  war-time  em- 
bargoes on  shipments  are  removed  as  much  high-grade  ore  is  reported 
from  various  sections  and  great  bodies  of  low-grade  complex  ore 
have  been  proved  up. 

Australia. — Tungsten  ore  has  been  mined  in  all  the  territories  of 
Australia.  Queensland  is  the  largest  producer  and  New  South  Wales, 
second.  Australia  was  for  several  years  the  largest  producer  of 
tungsten  ores  in  the  world,  but  when  the  surface  ores  were  exhausted, 
mining  languished,  the  output  dwindled,  and  the  United  States  took 
the  premier  position  (1906-7).  Both  wolframite  and  scheelite  are 
found  in  nearly  all  the  districts.  The  tungsten  is  generally  associated 
with  molybdenite  and  bismuth  and  is  rarely  found  in  well-defined 

1  O.  Nassauer,  Tariff  Commission  Conference  Reports,  p.  153  (?an  Francisco). 


28  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 

lodes.  The  shoots  are  typically  erratic  and  hard  to  find.  The  bulk 
of  the  output  comes  from  placer  deposits  of  scheelite.  The  only 
possible  checks  to  the  waning  output  of  Australia  are  the  develop- 
ment of  lode  mining  and  the  solution  of  certain  metallurgical  problems 
connected  with  the  separation  of  the  complex  scheelite  ores.  Every 
effort  was  made  to  increase  the  production  since  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  but  unsuccessfully  (up  to  the  end  of  1917). 

Portugal. — Portugal  has  maintained  its  position  as  the  chief  tung- 
sten producing  country  in  Europe  for  many  years.  Tungsten  is  found 
in  widely  separated  regions  in  Tras  Os  Montes  and  Beira  Alta  (in  the 
northerly  and  central  sections  of  the  country)  and  occurs  in  quartz 
veins,  of  the  fissure  tvpe,  cutting  both  granite  and  Archaean  schists. 
There  are  no  deep  mines,  mining  having  stopped  at  or  near  water 
level.  The  ore  is  generally  associated  with  lead,  zinc,  or  iron  sul- 
phides in  the  veins  and  is  mostly  wolframite  and  huebnerite,  though 
some  scheelite  is  found.  Tin  and  titanium  are  found  in  the  country 
rock  with  no  evidence  of  vein  formation  and  are  concentratedwith  the 
tungsten  ores  in  alluvial  deposits.  The  latter  are  an  important  source 
of  tungsten.  Most  of  the  production  an  1 9 1 4  was  by  British-controlled 
companies,  but  French  interests  were  extended  after  the  outbreak  of 
the  war,  and  in  1916,  American  capital  acquired  important  holdings. 
By  an  agreement  with  the  Portuguese  Government  the  products  of 
the  mines  are  shipped  to  England,  France,  and  the  United  States, 
respectively.  The  remainder  of  the  production,  from  locally  con- 
trolled mines,  is  purchased  by  agents  of  the  three  foreign  companies. 
In  1917  the  average  cost  of  production  of  five  properties  operated  by 
hand  methods  was  $8.22  per  long  ton  unit  plus  SI. 07  Government 
tax  and  $0.50  freight.  The  average  cost  at  three  plants,  one  British 
and  two  American,  operated  by  mechanical  methods  was  $7.59  plus 
the  same  charges.1  The  ore  was  sold  at  the  British  Government  fixed 
price  of  55s.2 

Portugal  produced  the  equivalent  of  1,741  tons  of  60  per  cent  con- 
centrate in  1917.  This  was  57  per  cent  of  the  whole  European  pro- 
duction. Most  of  the  product  is  comparatively  free  from  tin,  sulphur, 
bismuth,  and  phosphorus.3 

Other  European  countries. — Tungsten  ore,  chiefly  wolframite,  is 
produced  in  Spain,  Cornwall,  France,  Germany,  and  Austria-Hungary. 
The  average  annual  output  of  each  of  these  countries  is  approximately 
200  tons.  The  productions  decrease  slightly  in  the  order  named. 
Russia  produced  110  tons  in  1917  and  this  was  practically  its  first 
production.  A  few  tons  are  mined  in  Norway  and  Italy  every  vear. 
Most  of  the  European  tungsten  deposits  are  associated  with  tin  mines, 
and  the  ores  are  generally  contaminated  with  tin  ai}<4  other  harmful 
impurities. 

South  America. — Wolframite,  scheelite,  and  huebnerite  are  all 
found  along  the  eastern  cordillera  in  Bolivia,  Argentina,  and  Peru  and 
in  Chile  and  Brazil.  In  1917  Bolivia  produced  over  70  per  cent  of  the 
whole  South  American  output,  and  its  production  was  almost  as  great 
as  that  of  the  United  States,  or  the  third  largest  in  the  world. 

'  F.  W.  Footeand  R.  S.  Ransome,  jr.,  Eng.  Mg.  Jl.  106  (1918),  pp.  47-53. 

J  Ibid.  p.  50.  The  authors  estimate  the  net  value  at  $11.80  a  long  ton  unit  after  deducting  freight  to  Eng- 
land, insurance,  etc.  This  leaves  a  profit  margin  of  *2.64  a  unit  to  the  plants  with  mechanical  equipment 
and  $2.01  a  unit  to  the  plants  working  by  hand  methods. 

3  A  lU3u«ion  of  mine  labor  conditions  in  Portugal  will  be  found  in  the  miscellaneous  section. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  29 

The  Bolivian  ores  are  found  at  high  altitudes,  between  13,500  and 
16,500  feet  above  sea  level.  Only  natives,  accustomed  to  work  at 
such  altitudes,  can  do  any  physical  work  at  these  elevations;  the 
labor  supply  is,  therefore,  limited.  Transportation  is  difficult  and  the 
ore  must  be  sent  down  aerial  tramways  to  a  place  where  water  can 
be  had  for  concentration.  Silver  is  a  common  associate  of  the  tung- 
sten and  is  usually  present  in  sufficient  value  to  warrant  a  preliminary 
leaching  of  the  ore  with  hyposulphite  of  lime  to  extract  the  precious 
metal  before  the  mechanical  concentration  for  the  recovery  of  the 
tungsten.  As  the  tungsten  veins  are  often  crossed  and  intertwined 
with  tin  veins,  the  mining  of  the  two  metals  goes  hand  in  hand,  and 
the  concentration  of  the  mixed  ore  involves  this  difficult  separation 
(which  is  rarely  complete).  Copper  is  another  unwelcome  associate 
and  there  is  generally  some  bismuth. 

About  70  per  cent  of  the  Bolivian  output  comes  from  the  Department 
of  Orurp,  20  per  cent  from  La  Paz,  and  the  remainder  from  Potosi. 
Approximately  75  per  cent  of  the  production  is  exported  to  the  United 
States,  most  of  the  remainder  to  England,  in  1917;  but  in  that  year 
there  was  much  competitive  buying  by  French  and  British  commis- 
sions, and  in  1918  a  larger  part  of  the  ore  was  diverted  to  Europe. 

Argentina  is  the  second  largest  of  the  South  American  producers. 
Tungsten  and  petroleum  are  practically  its  only  mineral  products. 
The  chief  production  has  come  from  a  mine  in  the  Sierra  Cordoba, 
controlled  by  the  Hansa  Sociedad  de  Minas,  a  German  concern.1  The 
Argentine  ore  was  all  shipped  to  Germany  before  the  war  and  in  1915 
operations  were  temporarily  suspended.  Later  the  output  was  con- 
tracted for  by  American  firms  and  production  resumed  and  increased. 
In  1917-18  there  were  large  shipments  to  Europe  as  well  as  to  the 
United  States. 

Most  of  the  Peruvian  mines  are  owned  and  operated  by  native 
capital.  The  tungsten  minerals  'are  huebnerite  and  wolframite  and 
are  generally  accompanied  by  considerable,  even  economical,  amounts 
of  copper.  As  in  most  Andean  mines,  development  and  operation  are 
hindered  by  the  extreme  difficulty  of  transportation.  Only  a  few 
mills  have  been  erected  and  most  of  the  concentrating  is  done  by 
women  who  hand  pick  the  coarse  material  and  pan  the  fines.  In 
1916-17  English  interests  secured  an  option  on  the  Huara  deposits  in 
the  Province  of  Ancachs.  These  are  reported  to  be  the  largest  bodies 
of  tungsten  ore  in  the  world.* 

In  common  with  most  mineral  products,  tungsten  ore  exports  from 
nearly  all  South  American  countries  are  subject  to  an  export  tax, 
which  is  generally  based  on  a  sliding  scale  depending  on  the  price  of 
the  ore  as  well  as  the  financial  necessities  of  the  individual  country. 
These  taxes  are  constantl}7  fluctuating. 

Canada. — No  important  discoveries  of  tungsten  minerals  have  been 
made  in  Canada.  A  small  and  fairly  steady  output  of  scheelite  has 
been  maintained  in  Nova  Scotia,  largely  as  a  by-product  of  the  treat- 
ment of  gold  ore.  Tungsten  finds,  and  a  sporadic  production,  have 
been  reported  from  British  Columbia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Ontario. 

1  Mineral  Industry,  XXIII  (1914),  p.  750.  A  characteristic  feature  of  the  Cordoba  ore  is  the  presence  of 
appreciable  amounts  of  the  very  rare  metal  niobium,  some  specimens  run  as  high  as  1.5  per  cent  niobium 
oxide  (NbjO3). 

a  Mm.  Jour.,  Mar.  3,  1917. 


30  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 

Mexico. — Since  1915  small  shipments  of  tungsten  have  been  made 
from  various  parts  of  Mexico,  especially  Sonora.  Much  of  it  has  been 
marketed  at  a  comparatively  low  price,  being  stolen  ore  or  ore  mined 
by  "high-graders."  It  is  handled  at  Douglas,  Ariz.,  by  American  ore 
buyers.  Scheelite  is  a  minor  constituent  of  the  Moctezuma  Copper 
Co.  (Phelps-Dodge)  ore  at  Pilares  de  Nacozari,  but  so  far  as  known, 
no  attempts  have  been  made  to  recover  it. 

COSTS. 

Any  accurate  estimate  of  the  average  cost  of  producing  tungsten 
ore  is  impossible.  The  main  difficulty  is  to  determine  trie  cost  of 
developing  the  ore  body.  This  may  be  either  very  g;reat  or  very 
small.  In  surface  workings,  the  element  of  prospecting  is  often  prac- 
tically negligible  and  the  total  cost  of  production  is  only  slightly  more 
than  the  working  cost.  In  deeper  mines,  the  cost  of  dead  work  and 
drifting  in  search  of  .new  bodies  is  a  large  item.  Under  the  leasing 
system,  especially,  the  determination  of  this  cost  is  impossible,  since 
one  lessee  after  another  will  do  some  work  on  the  same  block  of 
ground  and  then  quit.  Most  of  the  production  throughout  the  world 
comes  from  small  operators  that  seldom  keep  any  accurate  records. 
Even  when  accurate  records  are  kept,  the  costs  are  so  widely  different 
that  any  attempt  to  correlate  them  is  fruitless. 

The  main  factor  in  all  mining  costs  is  the  cost  of  labor,  and  wages 
have  risen  all  over  the  world.  Supply  costs  have  also  increased.  In 
the  tungsten  industry,  costs  have  increased  from  40  to  50  per  cent 
during  the  war  period.  Considerable  data  in  regard  to  costs  in  1912- 
13  were  given  in  tariff  hearings  and  are  summarized  on  page  15. 

Detailed  cost  figures  have  been  furnished  by  a  number  of  domestic 
producers.  These  are  available  in  the  confidential  files  of  this  com- 
mission together  with  the  data  furnished  at  the  conferences  held  at 
Denver  and  San  Francisco.  In  Colorado  the  costs  in  1918  of  the 
larger  producers  were  estimated  to  run  from  $15  to  $33  per  unit,  with 
an  average  cost  of  approximately  $20.  '  Calif ornian  costs  are  lower, 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  any  large  production  in  that  section  can  be 
maintained  at  a  cost  of  less  than  $10  per  unit,  with  much  of  it  cost- 
ing considerably  more.  Before  the  war,  the  Atolia  Co.  sold  ore  at 
less  than  $6  per  unit,  but  the  production  came  then  from  the  upper 
levels  of  the  ore  body;  the  vein  in  those  horizons  was  richer  and 
wider,  and  operating  costs  have  increased  very  rapidly  during  the 
war  period. 

While  the  available  data  are  not  wholly  satisfactory,  it  seems  prob- 
able that  only  about  one-half  of  the  domestic  output  is  produced  at 
a  cost  of  from  $10  to  $15  per  unit,  and  that  'the  remainder  costs  from 
$15  to  $25  per  unit,  averaging,  say,  $20.  It  is  very  unlikely  that  any 
considerable  amount  of  tungsten  ore  can  again  be  pioduced  at  much, 
if  any,  less  than  $10  per  unit  unless  large,  low-grade  deposits  can  be 
systematically  developed  and  equipped  for  production  on  a  large 
tonnage  basis. 

Foreign  costs  are  much  more  difficult  to  ascertain.  A  large  range 
of  estimates  has  been  secured  from  various  sources.  Many  of  these 
estimates  run  considerably  above  the  prices  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment was  paying  to  producers  during  the  war  period  and  are  mani- 
festly too  high.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  stated  that  much  of  the 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  31 

Burmese  bre  is  produced  for  less  than  $2  per  unit.  There  is  little 
uniformity  in  the  figures  and  no  definite  conclusions  can  be  drawn 
from  such  data.  A  better  index  is  the  record  of  sales  in  the  con- 
suming markets.  As  soon  as  shipping  restrictions  were  removed 
after  the  signing  of  the  armistice  a  flood  of  tungsten  ore  came  to  the 
United  States  from  China  and  the  Far  East.  This  material  was  sold 
as  low  as  $6  per  unit  on  the  New  York  market  and  most  of  it  changed 
hands  at  much  less  than  $8  per  unit.  Undoubtedly  some  of  these 
sales  represent  liquidation  of  stocks  with  slight  regard  to  profits. 
A  little  of  it  may  even  have  been  sold  below  the  delivered  cost.  But 
it  is  significant  that  nearly  seven  months  after  the  embargoes  were 
removed  this  ore  is  offered  at  $7  per  unit  in  New  York,  although 
quotations  on  future  deliveries  from  China  are  placed  at  $8.  ApDar- 
ently  a  large  supply  of  Chinese  ore  can  be  placed  on  the  New  York 
market  at  less  than  $10  per  unit,  until  these  bonanza  deposits  of 
improved  extent  are  exhausted  (unless,  of  course,  the  cost  to  the 
importer  is  increased  by  a  duty  placed  upon  the  ore). 

Costs  in  other  Far  Eastern  countries — Bolivia  and  Portugal — must 
also  be  judged  by  the  prices  at  which  their  product  is  sold  in  consum- 
ing markets.  On  this  basis  they  come  between  the  very  cheap 
Chinese  (and  Burmese)  material  and  the  more  expensive  production 
of  the  United  States.  The  British  Government  controlled  prices  on 
tungsten  ore — drawn  from  Burma,  Portugal,  and  Bolivia — have 
ranged  from  $13  in  1918  to  $6.25  in  early  1919. 

MARKETS    AND    MARKETING. 

In  the  prewar  period  Germany  was  the  clearing  house  for  most  of 
the  tungsten  ore  mined  in  the  world,  and  a  large  part  of  the  tungsten 
powder  and  ferroalloy  was  manufactured  in  that  country  and  fur- 
nished to  steel  makers  throughout  the  world.  Most  of  the  American 
production,  however,  has  always  found  a  ready  market  at  home  and 
was  reduced  in  the  United  States.  The  world  situation  was  abruptly 
changed  by  the  outbreak  of  the  war  and  the  elimination  of  the  Central 
Powers  from  general  commerce.  Great  Britain  controlled  more  than 
half  of  the  tungsten  output  of  the  world,  so  that  country  now  became 
the  logical  center  of  the  industry.  The  construction  of  reduction 
plants  was  started  at  once  and  these  were  soon  able  to  take  double 
the  amount  of  ore  readily  obtainable.  The  steadily  growing  demands 
of  American  steel  makers,  which  far  exceeded  the  domestic  produc- 
tion of  ore,  resulted  in  active  competition  between  British  and  Amer- 
ican interests  for  South  American  and  Asiatic  ore,  and  even  for  the 
Portuguese  output.  In  an  attempt  to  straighten  out  this  tangle  of 
interests,  a  contract  was  drafted  in  1917-18  whereby  each  country 
should  retain  control  of  all  tungsten  produced  in  its  own  territory, 
while  that  produced  in  other  countries  was  to  be  equally  divided 
between  the  two  contractors.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  fully  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  tungsten  output  of  the  world  was  produced  in  British- 
controlled  territory,  this  agreement  would  have  been  manifestly  dis- 
advantageous to  the  American  industry,  whose  requirements  exceeded 
those  of  the  British  steel  makers,  and  it  was  never  consummated. 

The  chief  market  for  tungsten  ore  in  the  United  States  is  in  the 
Eastern  States,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburgh.  Only  a  small 
part  of  the  total  domestic  concentrate  is  reduced  in  Western  States 


32  UNITED  STATES  TAKIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 

closer  to  the  mines,  so  most  of  the  concentrate  must  be  shipped  East. 
In  stringent  markets  it  sometimes  goes  by  express. 

Many  tungsten  concentrates  contain  deleterious  impurities  which 
impair  their  value  as  sources  of  ferro tungsten.  Most  metallic  im- 
purities are  reduced  along  with  the  tungsten  in  the  electric  furnace 
if  not  removed  beforehand,  and  hence  would  go  into  the  steel  and 
injure  its  quality.  Objectionable  impurities  are  antimony,  arsenic, 
bismuth,  copper,  lead,  nickel,  tin,  zinc,  phosphorus,  and  sulphur. 
Fortunately  for  the  American  producer,  domestic  ores  are  singularly 
free  from  the  more  objectionable  impurities.  Most  foreign  ores 
contain  them  in  more  or  less  amounts,  and,  consequently,  almost 
invariably  sell  at  a  discount. 

The  usual  quotations  for  tungsten  ore  are  based  on  material  con- 
taining 60  per  cent  tungsten  trioxide  and  no  objectionable  impuri- 
ties.1 Separate  quotations  are  sometimes  published  for  wolframite 
and  scheelite.  The  latter  is  more  easily  reduced  in  the  electric 
furnace  and  commonly  valued  $1  or  more  a  unit  higher  than 
wolframite.  A  slightly  better  price  can  be  gotten  for  ferberite  than 
for  wolframite,  while  huebnerite  sells  for  a  little  less  than  the  standard 
ore.  The  removal  of  a  large  manganese  content  in  the  electric 
furnace  is  difficult  and  since  it  tends  to  lower  the  grade  of  the  ferro- 
alloy, it  is  undesirable. 

The  above  statements  apply  to  ores  of  the  same  tungsten  content. 
A  reduction  in  WO3  content  below  60  per  cent  is  penalized  and  a 
product  containing  less  than  about  40  per  cent  WO3  is  bargained  for 
with  little  reference  to  published  quotations,  even  though  it  may 
contain  no  harmful  impurities. 

Mine  dirt  up  to  20  or  30  per  cent  WO3  can  be  sold  only  to  custom 
concentrating  mills.  The  price  paid  is  a  matter  of  agreement  between 
the  producer  and  the  millman.  A  sliding  scale  is  usually  adopted. 
In  Boulder  County,  Colo.,  one  mill  2  bases  its  payments  on  the  pub- 
lished New  York  schedule  with  liberal  discounts  to  cover  losses, 
cost  of  treatment,  and  market  uncertainties.  The  following  example 
is  illustrative:  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal  quotation,  $22  a 
unit  for  60  per  cent  WO3;  mill  quotation,  $18  on  60  per  cent.  The 
price  paid  per  unit  for  2  per  cent  ore  is  $5  a  unit  (i.  e.  $10  a  ton), 
and  this  price  per  unit  is  increased  by  $1  a  unit  for  each  1  per 
cent  increase  in  grade  of  the  ore  up  to  7  per  cent  (which  is,  therefore, 
valued  at  $10  a  unit  or  $70  a  ton).  From  7  to  18  per  cent  WO3  the 
price  per  unit  is  increased  only  15  cents  a  unit  for  each  1  per  cent 
improvement  in  grade. 

DOMESTIC    PRODUCTION    AND    PRICES. 

The  question  of  prices  is  more  intimately  interrelated  with  that  of 
production  in  the  tungsten  industry  than  in  any  other  branch  of 
mining.  The  following  table  illustrates  the  growth  of  the  industry 
in  the  United  States  and  its  extraordinary  expansion  under  the 
stimulus  of  high  prices,  in  spite  of  the  depletion  of  easily  mined 
deposits  and  surface  ore: 

1  Foote  Mineral  Co.  specifications  for  commercial  grade,  guaranteed:  Tungsten  trioxide,  minimum,. 
60  per  cent;  sulphur,  copper,  and  phosphorus,  each,  maximum,  0.05  per  cent. 
Tin  or  bismutn,  absent  or  traces. 

$2  to  $8  per  unit  penalty  for  excess  impurities  beyond  above  allowance. 
!  Statement  of  W.  F.  Bleecker,  Tariff  Commission  Denver  Conference  Report,  p.  203  et  seq. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES. 

Production  of  tungsten  concentrate  in  the  United  States.1 

[In  tons  of  2,000  Ibs.,  60  per  cent  WO8.] 


33 


Year. 

Produc- 
tion. 

Average 
price 
per  unit. 

Yenr. 

Produc- 
tion. 

Average 
price 
per  unit. 

1901  

179 

32  58 

1910... 

1,821 

$7.62 

1902  

184 

3.00 

1911  

1,139 

5.97 

1903  

292 

2.48 

1912  

1,330 

6.28 

1904  .                     .... 

'740 

4.00 

1913  

1  537 

7.30 

1905  

803 

5.57 

1914  

990 

7.32 

1906 

928 

6.27 

1915     . 

2,332 

29.33 

1907  

1,640 

9.05 

1916  

7,469 

70.00 

1908  

671 

5.72 

1917  

5,313 

21.67 

1909  

1,619 

6.32 

1918  

1  Compiled  from  Mineral  Industry  (compare  with  IT.  S.  Geological  Survey  data  on  p.  23.) 

The  rise  in  the  price  of  tungsten  was  fairly  steady  and  rapid  until 
the  latter  part  of  1907.  The  first  ore,  known  to  have  been  mined  in 
the  United  States  and  sold,  was  produced  in  1900.  At  that  time  the 
price  of  tungsten  trioxide  was  about  $2  per  unit  in  a  60  per  cent 
concentrate.  With  the  betterment  in  price  the  production  increased 
slowly.  In  1906  there  was  a  remarkable  increase  and  at  the  beginning 
of  1907  the  price  had  risen  to  from  $9  to  $14  a  unit.  During  the  first 
part  of  1907  business  was  good  and  there  were  large  gains  in  produc- 
tion both  in  the  United  States  and  in  foreign  countries.  Near  the  end 
of  the  year  came  the  slump  in  the  steel  industry  and  the  panic  of 
1907-8.  The  tungsten  industry  was  temporarily  crippled.  Prices 
dropped  to  $5  a  unit  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  and  continued  at 
that  level  through  the  early  part  of  the  following  year  with  produc- 
tion at  a  low  ebb.  Late  in  1908  prices  improved  and  the  tungsten 
industry  responded  rapidly  to  an  active  demand.  Production  came 
back  in  1909  to  almost  the  high  record  of  1907  and  in  1910  exceeded  it. 
Then  came  another  slump  in  the  steel  industry  which  was  naturally 
reflected  in  the  tungsten  price  and  production.  The  period  from  1912 
up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  world  conflict  was  one  of  slow  recuperation 
from  the  1911  setback.  Improvement  in  price  was  not  so  rapid  as  in 
1909,  when  the  declining  output  from  Australia  strengthened  the 
market.  Burma  began  to  produce  tungsten  in  1910  and  immediately 
became  an  important  factor  in  the  world  market.  Only  the  more 
general  recognition  of  the  valuable  properties  of  the  black  metal  pre- 
vented an  actual  slump  in  prices.  In  the  early  part  of  1914  there  was 
a  slack  demand  for  tungsten  and  a  tendency  toward  sagging  prices, 
most  sales  being  made  on  a  basis  of  about  $6.50  a  unit.  The  out- 
break of  the  war  in  August  nearly  paralyzed  tungsten  mining,  and  it 
was  not  until  toward  the  end  of  the  year  that  the  demand  quickened. 
Prices  as  high  as  $9  a  unit  were  offered  but  throughout  the  year  the 
price  depended  on  the  quality  and  quantity  of  ore  and  the  urgency  of 
the  needs  of  buyers  and  sellers.  The  market  was  not  general  or  active. 
Production  fell  off  40  per  cent. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  1915  the  domestic  production  was  at  about 
the  same  rate  as  in  1914  and  60  per  cent  concentrates  sold  as  low  as 
$5.80  a  unit.  War  orders  were  beginning  to  pour  into  the  United 
States  from  England  and  France  and  caused  a  great  demand  for 
tungsten  for  high-speed  cutting  tools  and  other  special  steels.  Then 


34  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION   REPORT. 

the  British  Government  placed  an  embargo  on  the  exportation  of 
tungsten  ore  and  products  from  Burma  and  all  British  possessions. 
This  embargo  practically  cut  off  all  sources  of  foreign  supply,  im- 
portations of  tungsten  suddenly  and  almost  completely  stopped,  so 
consumers  turned  to  the  domestic  producers  for  their  supplies.  Prices 
began  to  soar;  in  May  the  value  of  tungsten  concentrates  had  almost 
doubled  and  before  the  end  of  the  year  there  was  a  frantic  demand 
at  $50  and  S62.50  a  unit.  Mining  of  all  known  deposits  were  pushed 
and  there  was  active  prospecting  for  new  deposits  under  the  stimulus 
of  record  prices.  As  a  result  the  1915  output  was  nearly  140  per  cent 
greater  than  that  of  1914  and  the  greatest  in  the  previous  history  of 
tungsten  mining  in  this  country  and  its  value  was  nearly  two  and  a 
half  times  as  great  as  that  for  any  previous  year. 

The  boom  that  started  in  the  latter  part  of  1915  expanded  at  an 
enormous  rate  in  the  early  months  of  1916  and  reached  its  climax  in 
April,  when  sales  were  made  at  the  record  price  of  $82.50  1  a  unit, 
compared  with  $7.32,  the  average  price  in  1914.  This  was  the  peak 
price,  and  before  the  middle  of  May  the  bottom  dropped  out  of  the 
market.  Quotations  at  the  end  of  May  were  less  than  half  those  of 
the  preceding  month,  and  buyers  were  taking  only  what  they  needed 
for  immediate  use.  The  hesitancy  of  consumers  to  make  purchases 
together  with  a  forced  restriction  in  consumption  allowed  stocks  to 
accumulate  and  the  great  activity  of  producers  hastened  the  con- 
tinued decline.  In  August  the  market  steadied,  while  consumers 
satisfied  their  most  pressing  requirements  at  prices  averaging  only  a 
little  more  than  $25  a  unit.  The  first  week  in  September  was  marked 
by  another  precipitate  decline,  but  the  market  soon  found  its  level  at 
about  $17  and  this  price  prevailed  with  a  slight  upward  trend  to  the 
end  of  the  year. 

The  abnormal  market  stimulus  in  the  spring  of  1916  aroused  great 
excitement  in  all  tungsten  districts.  Speculation  in  mines  was  even 
greater  than  in  the  ore  and  metal  market.  The  wildest  scramble  for 
tungsten  properties  was  that  in  Boulder  County,  Colorado .  Clerks, 
waiters,  farm  hands,  miners,  and  promoters  all  joined  in  a  feverish 
search  for  showings  of  tungsten  ore.  The  mad  rush  came  when  the 
ground  was  covered  with  snow,  and  little  could  be  judged  as  to  the 
value  of  the  various  claims  and  prospects,  many  of  which  changed 
hands  several  tunes  a  day.  Thousands  of  dollars  were  paid"  for 
options,  merely  on  hearsay  evidence.  Before  the  snow  was  gone  and 
real  prospecting  and  development  could  commence  the  bubble  had 
burst.  A  number  of  "  leasers  "  stayed  and  a  few  prospectors  remained 
to  work  their  claims,  but  most  of  the  speculators  and  fortune  seekers 
drifted  away  without  in  anyway  adding  to  the  output  of  the  ore. 
Nevertheless  the  high  prices  of  1916  caused  the  reopening  of  many 
abandoned  mines  and  brought  about  the  discover}'  of  some  new 
deposits.  After  a  few  months  development  the  output  began  to 
grow.  On  July  1,  in  only  six  months,  an  equivalent  of  over  3,000 
tons  of  60  per  cent  concentrates  had  been  produced — more  than  the 
United  States  or  any  other  country  had  ever  produced  in  any  12 
months  previous  to  that  tune.  The  total  production  for  the  year 
was  equivalent  to  5,243  tons  of  60  per  cent  concentrate,  valued  at 
$25,000,000. 

1  "In  one  instance,  at  least,  upwards  of  $100  a  unit  was  paid    *    *    *."    U.  S.  Tariff  Commission,  Denver 
Conference  Report,  p.  180. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING   ORES. 


35 


The  year  1917  was  characterized  by  a  reasonably  steady  market 
with  a  gradual  upward  movement.  The  monthly  quotations  which 
are  given  in  the  table  below  show  a  preference  for  scheelite,  which 
developed  in  that  year  for  the  first  time.  Wolframite,  especially 
ferberite,  had  hitherto  been  preferred  to  the  lime  mineral. 

The  tungsten  ore  market  in  1918  started  with  a  considerable  ac- 
cumulation of  off-grade  ore  in  New  York.  There  were  also  some 
stocks  of  high-grade  ore  that  was  tied  up  by  traffic  conditions.  The 
congestion  of  the  railroads  favored  further  accumulations.  Western 
ore  traveled,  at  times,  two  or  three  months  before  it  reached  its 
destination;  and  buyers,  running  short  of  material,  preferred  to  buy 
spot  New  York  delivery,  which,  in  spite  of  delayed  transit,  reached 
Eastern  points  quicker  than  material  sent  from  California  and  Nevada.1 
Chinese  ore  first  became  an  active  feature  of  the  market  in  May 
and  thenceforth  was  the  important  factor,  though,  on  account  of 
impurities,  it  was  obtainable  at  a  considerable  reduction  from  the 
quotations  of  high-grade  ore.  The  latter  continued  to  sell,  right 
up  to  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  at  prices  of  $24  and  $24.50  for 
wolframite  and  $25  and  $26  for  scheelite,  while  the  off-grade  ore, 
which  could  be  used  only  by  plants  employing  special  chemical 
(acid)  treatment,  was  selling  at  from  $5  to  $6  per  unit  less. 

Chinese  ore  deliveries  in  July  to  October  ran  up  to  about  1,200  ton 
per  month,  as  compared  with  a  total  of  only  200  tons  in  1917.  Im- 
ports from  all  countries  were  governed  by  the  licensing  system  intro- 
duced by  the  American  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  and  which  also 
covered  the  importation  of  all  ferroalloys. 

When  the  armistice  was  signed,  November  11,  the  business  in  tung- 
sten ore  came  almost  to  a  stop.  Government  contracts  were  largely 
canceled  and  new  business  for  peace  purposes  did  not  offset  the  loss 
of  war  orders.  There  was  practically  no  market.  Chinese  ore  con- 
tinued to  be  imported  in  1919  and  supplies  accumulated  rapidly. 
While  at  first  there  was  no  regular  market,  quotations  for  spot 
delivery  of  Chinese  ore  later  became  adjusted  at  $6.50  and,  later,  $7 
per  unit.  By  June  there  was  some  dissipation  of  stocks  of  Chinese 
ore  in  this  country  and  quotations  for  future  delivery  were  placed 
at  $8  per  unit.  Domestic  mines  were  closed  and  American  ore  was 
no  longer  quoted. 

Average  monthly  price  of  tungsten  ore.2 
[In  dollars  per  unit,  WO3]. 


19 

17 

19 

18 

Wolf- 
ramite. 

Scheelite. 

Wolf- 
ramite. 

Scheelite. 

January.. 

17.14 

17.50 

24.75 

26.00 

February  

16.80 

17.50 

24.50 

26.00 

March  

17.17 

17.77 

24.00 

24.55 

April  

17.86 

19.04 

24.00 

24.50 

May  

19.10 

20.94 

24.00 

24.13 

June 

20.80 

23.50 

24.00 

24.00 

July  

23.44 

25.68 

24.00 

24.00 

August  

24.66 

26.50 

24.50 

25.05 

September  

23.92 

26.00 

24.50 

25.35 

October  

24.00 

26.00 

25.00 

26.00 

November  

26.00 

26.00 

(3) 

(3) 

December  .... 

25.24 

26.56 

(i) 

(3) 

Year  

21.34 

22.75 

24.  325 

24.958 

i  Charles  Hardy:  Eng.  Min.  Journ.  107  (1919),  p.  80. 
»  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal  quotations. 
*  No  market. 


36 


UNITED  STATES  TABIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 


DOMESTIC    CONSUMPTION    AND    SOURCES    OF    SUPPLY. 

The  United  States  has  become  one  of  the  largest  consumers  of 
tungsten  in  the  world.  While  it  is  also  one  of  the  largest  single 
producers,  the  domestic  output  has  always  been  insufficient  to  sat- 
isfy the  demands  of  consumers  and  the  balance  has  to  be  imported. 
Most  of  the  foreign  supply  came  from  Germany  before  the  war  in 
the  form  of  both  tungsten  ore  and  as  metal  or  ferrotungsten,  but 
Germany  was  eliminated  at  the  outbreak  of  the  world  conflict  and 
the  United  States  has  fallen  back  on  South  America  and  China  to 
supplement  its  domestic  supplies.  This  change  in  sources  of  supply 
has  also  wrought  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  imports.  Since 
there  are  no  tungsten  reduction  works  in  South  America,  the  tungsten 
supply  in  later  years  has  been  imported  almost  wholly  in  the  form 
of  ore  to  be  reduced  in  this  country.  No  tungsten  is  exported  in 
the  form  of  ore  but  there  are  appreciable  quantities  of  ferrotungsten 
shipped  out  of  the  United  States.  In  considering  the  needs  of  the 
United  States,  account  should  be  taken  of  these  exports  of  a  com- 
paratively crude  form.  A  close  approximation  to  recent  actual 
consumption  of  tungsten  is  obtained  in  the  following  table.  The 
data  are  based  on  60  per  cent  concentrate,  assuming  that  one  ton 
of  ferrotungsten  is  equivalent  to  two  tons  of  concentrate. 

Domestic  consumption  tungsten  metal.1 
(Expressed  in  short  tons  of  60  per  cent  concentrates:  1  ton  ferro=2  tons  concentrate.) 


1913 

1917 

1918  (7  months). 

Tons. 

Percent.2 

Tons. 

Per  cent.  2 

Tons. 

Percent.2 

SOURCES  OF  SUPPLY. 

Imports: 
South  America  

-  3,560 
831 
121 

340 

28 

37.4 
8.7 
1.3 
3.6 
.3 

2,126 
1,931 
50 
211 

27 

30.8 
28.0 

3.1 

.4 

China-Japan  

Europe  ...                             ... 

1,705 
12 
6 

52.3 
.3 
.2 

Mexico-Canada  

All  other  

Total  imports  

1,723 
1,537 

52.8 
47.2 

4,880 
4,633 

51.3 

84.7 

4,345 
2,550 

63.0 
37.0 

Domestic  production  . 

Total  supply 

3,260 

100.0 

9,513 

100.0 

6,895 

100.0 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

Exports: 
France         .             

(3) 
(») 
(3) 
(3) 
(3) 

(3) 
(3) 
(3) 
(3) 
(3) 

316 
1,328 
310 
20 
104 

3.3 
14.0 
3.2 
.2 
1.1 

694              10.  1 
280                4.1 

Italy  

Canada  .         

16                  .2 
1    

All  other  

Total  exports  

(3) 

(3) 

2,078 

2.18 

991 

14.4 

Net  domestic  consumption 

3,260 

100.0 

7,435 

78.2 

5,904 

85.6 

1  Data  from  Department  of  Commerce  records,  Geological  Survey,  and  War  Industries  Board. 
1  Per  cent  of  total  supply. 

'Included  in  "All  others"  in  Department  of  Commerce  records;  exports  only  of  ferroalloy  and  none 
prior  to  1914. 

The  above  table  clearly  shows  the  great  increase  in  the  consump- 
tion of  tungsten  in  the  United  States,  not  only  the  consumption  of 
concentrates  that  are  merely  made  into  ferrotungsten  or  tungsten 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  37 

metal,  but  also  the  net  consumption  that  goes  into  ultimate  manu- 
factures. The  reduction  of  concentrate  is  a  comparatively  minor 
industry,  and  has  developed  in  the  United  States,  merely  as  a  matter 

»  of  convenience,  just  as  Germany  was  formerly  the  brokerage  market 

as  well  as  a  consuming  market.  The  tungsten  exports  are  wholly 
of  metal  or  ferro tungsten.  Since  there  is  no  tariff  on  tungsten  ore, 
no  records  are  kept  of  the  portion  of  these  exports  derived  from 
domestic  and  from  foreign  ore.  If  the  ore  were  dutiable,  most  of 
these  exports  would  have  been  "smelted  in  bond"  or  "exported  with 
benefit  of  drawback." 

The  development  of  tungsten  ore  reduction  for  export  is  a  direct 
result  of  the  transfer  of  sources  of  supply,  which  are  also  indicated  in 
the  above  table.  Before  the  war,  a  large  part  of  the  foreign  supply 
of  tungsten  came  from  Europe,  especially  Germany,  and  a  large  part 

|:  of  it  was  imported  in  the  form  of  metal  and  alloy. 

IMPORTS. 

Before  the  war,  Germany  furnished  the  United  States  with  about 
[  two-thirds  of  its  imported  supply  of  tungsten  ores  in  addition  to  large 

amounts  of  tungsten  metal  and  ferroalloy.  Since  Germany  in  normal 
times  produced  only  100  or  200  tons  of  tungsten  ore  a  year,  it  is 
evident  that  Germany  was  not  the  country  of  origin  of  the  large 
importations  received  in  the  United  States,  and  that  they  were  chiefly 
of  ore  produced  in  other  countries  and  reexported  from  Germany. 
Until  the  outbreak  of  the  war  practically  all  the  tungsten  ore  output 
of  the  world,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  the  United  States  and 
certain  European  countries,  was  sold  to  German  buyers.  The 
German  firms  were  ready  to  purchase  and  treat  ores  containing 
objectionable  impurities  and  low-grade  material  that  British  buyers 
would  not  touch  and,  naturally,  a  large  part  of  the  world  output 
gravitated  to  this  omnivorous  market.  Most  of  this  ore  was  made 
into  metal  or  ferrotungsten  in  Germany,1  but  the  German  ore  buyers 
did  some  brokerage  business  and  reshipped  an  important  tonnage  of 
the  better  class  of  ore,  especially  to  the  United  States.  In  1913 
(fiscal  year)  the  United  States  imported  a  total  of  766  long  tons  of 
tungsten  ore  of  which  600  long  tons  came  from  Germany. 

Just  preceding  the  war  there  was  little  demand  for  tungsten  and 
imports  fell  off.  The  sudden  demand  in  1915  was  only  partially  met 
by  the  increased  domestic  production.  Germany  was  cut  off  as  a 
source  of  supply  because  of  the  war.  American  consumers  began 
to  draw  supplies  direct  from  South  American  sources  and  in  1917 
(fiscal  year)  over  80  per  cent  of  the  3,832  tons  of  tungsten  ore  imported 
into  the  United  States  came  from  Peru,  Chile,  Argentina,  Panama, 
and  Ecuador.  The  imports  from  Panama  were  reshipments  from 
Costa  Rica,  Ecuador,  and  Colombia.  A  large  part  of  the  imports 
from  Chile,  Peru,  and  Ecuador  is  of  ore  produced  in  Bolivia. 

In  general,  imported  ore  has  a  higher  tungsten  content  than  the 
domestic  product.  A  little  of  it  grades  down  to  50  per  cent  \VO3,  but 
the  average  is  close  to  60  per  cent.  It  is  rarely  free  from  objectionable 
impurities.  Much  of  it  is  impure  stuff  that  can  not  be  treated  directly 
by  the  electric  furnace  plants,  but  is  snapped  up  at  low  prices  by 
companies  equipped  to  treat  it  by  chemical  processes. 

i  In  the  5-year  period  1909-1913,  the  net  imports  of  tungsten  ore  into  Germany  averaged  3,600  tons  a  year. 
Report  of  British  Royal  Commission. 


38 


UNITED  STATES  TAKIFF   COMMISSION   REPORT. 


IMPORTS  BY  COUNTRIES. 
[Fiscal  years.] 


. 

19121 

1913 

1914 

Long  tons. 

Dollars. 

Long  tons. 

Dollars. 

Long  tons. 

Dollars. 

G  ermanv  

233 
60 
30 
48 

115,307 
29,703 
11,532 
23,212 

600 

80 

300,  867 
41,732 

125 
70 

78,709 
37,063 

Spain        

United  Kingdom 

68 
12 
6 

34,  557 
6,789 
2,684 

22 

13,519 

Canada               .         

All  other 

Total 

371 

179,754 

766 

386,  629 

217 

129,291 

19 

15 

19 

16 

19 

17 

19 

18 

Imported  from  — 

Long 
tons. 

Dollars. 

Long 
tons. 

Dollars'. 

Long 
tons. 

Dollars. 

Long 
tons. 

Dollars. 

Germany                    .  . 

11 

8  692 

Portugal     

34 

17,558 

232 

286,  444 

39 

41,007 

92 

82,583 

16 

7  095 

17 

15  618 

175 

84  891 

31 

23  361 

Canada          

11 

36,000 

Straits  Settlements  .... 





Chile  

19 

10,  531 

786 

2,017,145 

1,407 

2,013,411 

1,358 

1,364,461 

Peru    

154 

72,553 

800 

1  223,001 

1  092 

1,  073,  001 

1,528 

1,  455,  863 

6 

2  340 

24 

27  242 

24 

11  492 

362 

791  568 



286 

374,  404 

965 

1  157,329 

Mexico         

174 

36,  677 

304 

192,  339 

263 

214,  072 

Argentina  

373 

684,  677 

449 

1,  062,  604 

251 

371,  227 

Bolivia 

75 

203  767 

65 

82,542 

Panama 

3 

7,600 

140 

144,558 

23 

26,  143 

Ecuador   

5 

5,300 

10 

12,559 

China  

25 

12,768 

50 

42,  747 

759 

723,935 

Siam  

25 

22,  778 

50 

48,  877 

20 

17,  166 

All  other 

83 

100  986 

1 

1  250 

301 

249  818 

Total  

439 

215,  152 

3,010 

5,  453,  632 

3.823 

4,999,498 

5,646 

5,  793,  698 

' 

1  Included  in  "All  other  articles"  prior  to  1912. 
IMPORTS   FOR  CONSUMPTION—  REVENUE. 

Fiscal  years. 

| 
Quan- 
Ratesofduty.                *jj£| 
tons). 

I 

Valnps            Duties 
Values.        collected. 

Actual 
and  corn- 
Value  per  puted  ad 
unit  of  ,  valorem 
quantity.       rate 
(per 
cent). 

19101      

10  per  cent  

do 

272,311.00  i  27,231.10 
241,795.00     24,179.50 
184,518.00  '  18,451.80 
386,629.00  j  38,662.90 
5,237.00  j        523.70 
124,054.00    
215,152.00    
5,453,632.00    
4,999,498.00    
5,880,473.00    

10.00 
10.00 

1911 

1912          

do   381.00 

484.30            10.00 
504.50             10.00 
523.70             10.00 
544.10    
490.10  :  
1,810.30    
1,339.30    
1,024.30    

1913  

do  766.37 

1914  »  

do  10.00 

19143          

Free         228.00 

1915  

do  i      439.00 

1916  
1917  
1918  

do  3,012.00 
do  i  3,733.00 
do  5,741.00 

1  Aug.  6,  1909,  to  June  30,  1910. 

*  July  1  to  Oct.  3,  1913,  under  act  of  1909. 


3  Oct.  4,  1913,  to  June  30,  1914,  under  act  of  1913. 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES. 


39 


EXPORTS. 

The  United  States  is  a  large  importer  of  tungsten  ore,  but  not  an 
exporter.  Some  of  the  California  product  was  exported  to  Germany 
before  the  war,1  but  the  amount  was  so  small  that  no  records  are 
available.  The  exports  shown  in  the  domestic  consumption  table 
on  a  previous  page  were  of  ferro tungsten  and  calculated  as  con- 
centrate merely  for  the  purpose  of  comparison.  Before  the  war  little 
tungsten  in  any  form  was  exported  and  the  comparatively  large 
exports  of  ferroalloy  were  due  solely  to  war  conditions,  the  United 
States  having  taken  Germany's  place  to  some  extent  as  the  immediate 
market  for  South  American  and  Far  Eastern  ore. 

Prices,  tungsten-bearing  ores  (wholesale  or  retail)— Average  of  concentrates,  60  per  cent 

WO,. 

[Data  from  The  Mineral  Industry.] 


Kinds  or  grades. 

Per  short 
ton. 

Kinds  or  grades. 

Per  short 
ton. 

1908 

?343 

1913 

$438 

1909  

379 

1911  

439 

1910  

457 

1915  

1  760 

1911  

358 

1916. 

4  200 

1912 

377 

1917 

1  300 

RATES    OF   DUTY    ON    TUNGSTEN-BEARING    ORES. 


Act  of— 



Para- 

Tariff classification  or  description. 

Rates  of  duty,  specific  and 
ad  valorem. 

graph. 

1909 
1913 

190 
633 

Tungsten-bearing  ores  of  all  kinds.  .        .                   

10  per  cent  ad  valorem. 
Free. 

do  "  

COURT    AND    TREASURY   DECISIONS. 

Tungsten  ore  or  wolfram  was  held  to  be  exempt  from  duty  as  a 
crude  mineral  under  the  act  of  1897,  and  not  dutiable  as  a  metal 
unwrought  nor  as  a  metallic  mineral  substance  in  a  crude  state. 
(Hempstead  v.  Thomas,  122  Fed.  538  (T.  D.  24506),  reversing  115 
Fed.  256;  followed  in  G.  A.  5400  (T.  D.  24607). 


i  J.  H.  Mackenzie,  Tariff  Commission  Conference  Report,  p.  18. 


III.  COMPETITIVE  CONDITIONS. 

The  United  States  has  never  produced  sufficient  tungsten  to  satisfy 
the  domestic  demand.  Stimulated  by  the  great  demand  and  con- 
sequent high  prices  of  1915-16,  the  production  increased  enormously; 
but  even  in  1916,  the  production  increased  at  a  slower  rate  than 
consumption.  This  relatively  greater  increase  in  consumption  as 
compared  with  the  domestic  supply  is  not  confined  to  the  war  period, 
but  was  in  progress  for  several  years  preceding  the  outbreak  of  the 
Great  War. 

Table  showing  the  approximate  proportion  of  domestic  tungsten  ore  requirements  produced 

in  the  United  States. 


Propor- 

tion of 

Calendar  year. 

Domestic 
pro- 
duction.1 

Imports.1 

Available 
supply. 

available 
°upply 
produced 

in  United 

States. 

Long  tons. 

Long  tons. 

Long  tons. 

Per  cent. 

1912 

1  187 

736 

1  913 

62  0 

1913  

1.372 

401 

1,773 

77.4 

1914  

884 

267 

1.151 

76.6 

1915                   

2.082 

1.370 

3  452 

60.3 

1916  

5,268 

3,547 

8,  815 

59.7 

1917. 

4,137 

4  357 

8  494 

48  7 

i  Production  calculated  into  tons  of  60  per  cent  WO3.     No  data  for  correcting  import  tonnage  to  60  per 
cent  basis. 

From  1912  to  1916,  the  domestic  production  exceeded  the  imports, 
but  in  1917  and  1918,  the  consumption  of  foreign  ore  in  the  United 
States  exceeded  that  from  domestic  mines.  As  has  been  noted  else- 
where this  increase  in  percentage  of  foreign  ore  is  partly  attributable 
to  the  fact  that  in  recent  years  there  have  been  no  imports  of  ferro- 
tungsten  and  some  ferro tungsten  has  been  exported.  The  main 
point,  however,  is  that  domestic  production  was  handicapped 
because  of  the  drop  in  price  and  the  competition  of  foreign  supplies. 

The  production  of  tungsten  in  every  country  passes  through  an 
early  stage  of  comparatively  cheap  output  from  float  ore  and  rich, 
easily-mined  surface  deposits.  Practically  no  equipment  or  invest- 
ment is  required  and  the  labor  necessary  to  secure  the  ore  is 
much  less  than  is  required  at  a  later  period,  when  the  supply  of 
ore  must  be  got  from  underground  mining.  In  this  later  period, 
the  continued  production  of  ore  necessitates  deep  mining,  more 
equipment,  a  comparatively  heavy  capital  outlay  for  development, 
and  generally  higher  operating  costs. 

Australia  was  in  the  first  stage  up  to  1905.  The  United  States 
was  in  it  until  1915.  Now,  however,  both  countries  are,  broadly 
speaking,  in  the  later  stage.  The  output  of  both  countries  has 
dwindled,  more  rapidly  in  Australia  because  there  the  conditions 
are  aggravated  and  have  existed  a  longer  time,  but  no  less  surely  in 
the  United  States.  The  Boulder  County  (Colo.)  district,  which 
formerly  supplied  over  60  per  cent  of  the  domestic  production  is 

40 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  41 

stripped  of  easily  mined  ore  and  faces  high  costs  and  large  invest- 
ments if  its  production  is  to  be  maintained  at  anything  like  its  former 
rate  from  its  narrow  veins  and  erratic  ore  snoots.  In  California 
the  depletion  is  not  so  far  advanced,  but  the  exploitation  of  the  large 
low-grade  deposits  upon  which  must  depend  the  bulk  of  future 
production  is  delayed  by  the  necessity  of  heavy  capital  expenditure. 
The  general  sentiment  expressed  by  producers  at  the  two  confer- 
ences on  tungsten  held  by  this  Commission  was  that  capital  was 
willing  to  assume  the  mining  risk  but  hesitated  to  undertake  the 
financing  of  tungsten  ventures  because  it  is  not  assured  of  a  stable 
or  adequate  price  for  the  product. 

An  important  and  growing  factor  in  the  American  market  is  the 
supply  of  foreign  ore.  The  price  level  has  always  been  governed 
to  a  large  extent  by  the  cost  of  importing  ore  from  other  countries. 
The  fear  of  a  great  influx  of  cheap  foreign  tungsten  has  been  the 
deterrent  to  the  investment  of  the  requisite  capital  in  many  of  the 
low-grade  deposits  of  the  United  States. 

The  metallurgical  treatment  of  tungsten  ores  is  as  efficient  in  the 
United  States  as  in  any  country  and  far  in  advance  of  that  in  most 
other  countries.  While  American  labor  is  superior  to  that  in  any 
other  large  tungsten-producing  region,  it  is  necessarily  much  better 
paid.  Where  the  output  depends  on  a  large  amount  of  hand  work 
as  in  mines  of  the  Boulder  County  type,  there  is  no  possibility  of 
producing  ore  so  cheaply  in  the  United  States  as  in  countries  of  low 
wages.  The  main  dependence,  therefore,  of  the  United  States  are 
the  low-grade,  but  probably  extensive,  deposits  of  the  Southwest. 
American  management  ana  equipment  have  demonstrated  their 
superiority  in  mining  of  low-grade  properties  on  a  large  scale.  Given 
an  adequate  tonnage,  iron,  copper,  lead,  and,  more  recently,  molyb- 
denum have  been  mined  much  more  cheaply  in  the  United  States 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  in  spite  of  the  high  wages  paid 
to  the  individual  laborers.  It  is  generally  believed  that  there  is 
an  adequate  supply  of  tungsten  in  these  low-grade  deposits,  although 
it  has  not  yet  been  fully  demonstrated.  If  there  is,  the  United 
States  can  hold  its  own  against  most  of  its  competitors.  The  cost  of 
production  should  not  exceed  greatly  that  of  any  country  operating 
deep,  low-grade  mines.  The  only  serious  competition  is  the  tem- 
porary production  from  surface  ore,  which  can  not  be  depended 
upon  for  a  continuous  supply  but  which  does  flood  the  market  for  a 
time  with  a  disturbing  effect  on  prices. 

While  the  extremely  pure  American  ore  has  invariably  brought 
a  better  price  in  the  past  than  the  less  pure  foreign  ores,  the  differ- 
ential is  rapidly  becoming  less  because  of  the  growing  use  of  chemical 
treatment  methods  in  place  of  electric  furnace  reduction  of  the  crude 
concentrate.  This  differential  is  not  likely  ever  to  vanish  altogether 
but  it  is  only  a  small  amount  of  protection. 

During  the  war,  embargoes  and  high  ocean  freights  and  insurance 
were  the  chief  protection  of  the  domestic  producer.  In  the  post-war 
period,  these  conditions  have  changed  materially.  The  countries 
from  which  the  United  States  imports  the  most  tungsten  are 
countries  with  which  there  is  an  active  desire  to  foster  trade.  Tung- 
sten ore  may  be  used  for  a  back  haul  cargo  in  place  of  ballast  by 
vessels  carrying  American  manufactures  exported  to  these  countries. 
Under  these  circumstances  very  low  rates  would  doubtless  be  granted. 


IV.  MISCELLANEOUS. 

KEDUCTION    OF   TUNGSTEN   ORE. 

The  greater  part  of  the  American  and  other  ores  free  from  objec- 
tionable impurities  is  reduced  to  ferro-alloy  in  electric  furnaces,  using 
carbon  and  the  necessary  fluxing  agents.  When  ferro tungsten  was 
first  used  a  large  proportion  of  it  was  made  by  reduction  in  crucibles, 
using  the  ore  and  carbon.  This  process  generally  yields  a  powder 
unless  the  ferro-alloy  is  very  low  grade  and  can  be  easily  fused. 

Impure  ores  can  be  treated  by  the  so-called  German  process,1 
which  was  largely  used  in  Germany  before  the  war.  There  are  several 
American  plants  now  equipped  for  treating  ores  by  this  method.  It 
is  distinctly  a  chemical  method,  involving  fusion  with  soda  ash  and 
coal,  leaching  out  the  sodium  tungstate  thus  formed,  and  precipi- 
tating nearly  chemically  pure  tungstic  acid  (H2WO4)  by  means  of 
hydrochloric  (muriatic)  acid.  The  precipitate  is  dehydrated  and  re- 
duced to  metal,  either  in  a  stream  of  hydrogen  or  by  heating  with 
carbon  in  crucibles.  Both  methods  produce  tungsten  powder.  The 
second  process  is  the  commoner  for  use  in  steel,  while  the  reduction 
with  hydrogen  is  employed  for  making  extremely  pure  metal  for 
making  incandescent  lamp  filaments. 

To  produce  ductile  tungsten  for  lamp  filaments,  the-  pure  powdered 
metal  is  consolidated  into  rods  under  great  pressure  in  an  electric 
furnace  in  an  atmosphere  of  hydrogen  and  at  a  temperature  of  about 
2,850°  C  (below  the  melting  point  of  tungsten  under  normal  pres- 
sure). The  bar  thus  formed  is  brittle  and  could  not  be  drawn  into 
wire.  It  is  made  ductile  by  hammering  and  rolling,  in  a  specially 
constructed  machine,  at  a  temperature  of  about  1,200°  C.  and  still 
in  an  atmosphere  of  hydrogen.  After  some  50  successive  treatments 
in  this  machine,  the  bar  is  reduced  to  one-sixth  its  former  size  and 
has  become  sufficiently  ductile.  The  drawing  is  done  at  a  high  tem- 
perature in  diamond  dies.  The  production  of  the  ordinary  filament 
requires  drawing  the  metal  through  about  100  dies,  which  grow  suc- 
cessively smaller  until  the  desired  diameter  is  reached. 

OPINIONS    OF    PRODUCERS. 

Tariff  hearings,  1908-1909.— Abstract  of  brief  by  Walter  M. 
Stein,  president  of  the  Primes  Chemical  Co.,  Primos,  Pa.,  November 
17,  1908: 

"The  cost  of  producing  tungsten  ore  in  this  country  amounts  to  $8 
minimum  per  unit  (of  WO3  per  ton  of  2,000  Ibs.).  Foreign  ore  com- 
ing in  at  a  lower  price  forced  American  mines  to  shut  down  at  certain 
periods.  The  tungsten  ore  conditions  are  similar  all  over  the  world, 
and  the  variation  in  costs  of  production  depends  entirely  on  the  cost 
of  labor  at  the  mines,  i.  e.,  wages.  Wages  in  foreign  countries  are 

>  For  new  commercial  chemical  method,  see  confidential  flies,  U.  S.  Tariff  Commissioii. 
42 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  43 

lower  than  in  the  United  States,  as  shown*  by  the"  following  data. 
Labor  in  ore  mining  represents  about  60  to  65  per  cent  of  the  total 
cost  of  production. 

Europe: 

Portugal — 

Miners,  44  to  56  cents  a  day. 

Ordinary  workmen,  30.4  to  36  cents  a  day. 

Women  and  boys,  16  to  19.2  cents  a  day. 
Spain — 

One  mine,  110  workmen  average  40  cents  per  day. 

Other  mines,  50  tO  60  cents  per  day. 

Boys  and  women,  20  to  25  cents  per  day. 
Bohemia — 

Laborers,  35  to  45  cents  per  day  of  10  hours. 

Miners,  75  cents  per  day. 
South  America: 
Argentina — 

Laborers,  20  to  25  cents  per  day. 

Miners,  75  cents  per  day,  United  States  currency. 
United  States: 

Laborers,  from  $2  to  $2.50  per  day. 
Miners,  from  $3  to  15-4.50  per  day. 
Mechanics,  ore-mining  centers,  $5  per  day. 

On  account  of  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  labor  in  the  United 
States  and  in  foreign  countries,  it  would  be  but  fair  and  reasonable 
to  place  a  duty  of  20  per  cent  ad  valorem  on  tungsten  ore,  which  is 
now-  on  the  free  list."  (Vol.  II,  p.  1430.) 

Philip  Bauer  Co.,  of  New  York,  writes  relative  to  tungsten  ores 
and  concentrates,  submitting  a  report  made  under  date  of  October 
14,  1908,  by  Frederick  H.  Minard,  in  which  data  are  given  regarding 
production  costs  and  prices  of  tungsten  ore.  The  article  advocates 
iree  tungsten  and  is  devoted  principally  to  refuting  statements  made 
by  W.  M.  Stein,  president  of  the  Primes  Chemical  Co.,  who  advocates 
a  tariff  of  20  per  cent.  (Vol.  II,  p.  1491.) 

York  (Pa.)  Metal  &  Alloy  Co.  submits  statement  relative  to  tung- 
sten and  molybdenum  products  under  date  of  December  31,  1908,  in 
which  statements  made  by  W.  M.  Stein,  president  of  the  Primes 
Chemical  Co.,  regarding  the  cost  of  production  are  refuted,  and  the 
free  entry  of  tungsten  ores  is  advocated.  (Vol.  II,  p.  1493.) 

Brief  of  Primos  Chemical  Co.  (1913),  in  reference  to  ferroalloys 
(abstracted) : 

"By  far  the  greater  portion  of  tungsten  ores  is  produced  in  foreign 
countries.  Through  the  sharp  competition  and  low  cost  of  production 
of  the  foreign  ores  it  has  not  been  possible  to  operate  the  mines  hi 
this  country  continuously,  as  in  a  sagging  market  the  value  of  the 
ores  soon  falls  below  the  cost  of  production  in  this  country.  There 
is  between  $3,000,000  and  $5,000,000  invested  in  tungsten  mines 
in  the  United  States,  which  would  be  able  to  produce  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  world's  consumption,  or  enough  to  supply  the  entire 
domestic  demand.  But  the  world  is  being  supplied  from  countries 
where  wages  are  less  than  one-third  of  those  paid  in  this  country. 
A  protest  is  made  against  the  reduction  of  the  duty  provided  in 
paragraph  190."  (Vol.  II,  p.  1704.) 

Brief  of  the  Atolia  Mining  Co.,  in  re  tungsten-bearing  ores,  January 
2,  1913  (abstracted): 

"Tungsten  concentrates. — A  duty  of  10  per  cent  ad  valorem  is  at 
present  imposed  on  this  material  under  the  tariff  act  of  1909;  it  is 


44  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION  EEPOBT. 

proposed  that  this  shall  enter  duty  free.  Tungsten  ore  is  usually 
taken  from  the  ground  containing  an  average  tungstic  oxide  content 
of  not  over  4  per  cent.  From  this  point  it  is  subject  to  a  process  of 
concentration  which  involves  labor  and  material.  The  buyers  of 
tungsten  concentrates  require  a  product  guaranteed  to  contain  not 
less  than  65  per  cent  tungstic  oxide,  and  the  cost  of  obtaining  this 
per  ton  of  concentrates  for  the  last  three  years'  operation  of  the  Atolia 
has  been  about  $306.60  per  ton  in  labor  and  materials  alone,  exclusive 
of  taxes,  depreciation,  amortization,  and  interest  due  on  capital 
invested.  It  is  contended  it  is  working  a  hardship  on  the  producer 
of  tungsten  to  remove  all  protection  on  such  so-called  tungsten 
ore,  if,  at  the  same  time,  all  the  protection  is  not  removed  on  the 
other  forms  in  which  tungsten  can  be  imported,  as  it  will  naturally 
flow  into  the  country  by  the  lowest  channel  and  defeat  any  hope  of 
increasing  the  revenue,  in  addition  to  making  the  producer  of  tungsten 
concentrates  bear  practically  the  whole  brunt  of  adjustment.  It  is 
urged  that  reduction  in  the  tariff  on  tungsten  ores,  tool  steel,  tung- 
sten powder,  and  ferrotungsten  be  made  pro  rata.  If  it  is  proposed 
to  place  tungsten  ore  on  the  free  list  then  it  should  be  defined  as  a 
natural  product  not  containing  over  5  per  cent  tungstic  oxide. 

"Tungsten  ore  has  a  gross  content  at  best  of  about  4  per  cent  tungstic 
oxide,  and  a  recoverable  value  with  tungstic  oxide  at  the  price  of  $7 
per  unit  (1  per  cent)  or  about  $21  per  ton,  25  per  cent  being  lost 
in  the  process  of  recovery.  This  is  a  raw  material  and  could  be 
imported  free  of  duty  without  seriously  affecting  any  interests.  On 
the  other  hand,  tungsten  ore,  as  marketed  (65  per  cent  concentrates), 
costs  at  least  $300  per  ton  to  prepare,  and  should  be  granted  as  much 
protection  as  any  other  manufactured  article  into  which  labor  so 
largely  enters."  (H.  R.  Doc.  No.  1447,  62d  Cong.,  3d  sess.,  Vol. 
II,  p.  1718.) 

Brief  of  Atkins,  Kroll  &  Co.,  by  Comstock  &  Washburn:  The  brief 
refers  to  court  and  Treasury  decisions,  and  gives  statistics  of  imports 
and  duty  collected  for  annual  periods  1907-1911.  The  rest  of  the 
article  contains  practically  the  same  information  as  that  given  in  the 
brief  of  the  Atolia  Mining  Co.  (H.  R.  Doc.  No.  1447,  62d  Cong., 
3d  sess.,  Vol.  II,  p.  1721.) 

Brief  of  York  Metal  Alloy  Co.,  York,  Pa.,  January  16,  1912:  The 
output  of  tungsten  ores  in  Colorado  is  practically  under  the  control 
of  one  concern,  so  much  so  that  during  the  seven  years  in  which 
the  York  Co.  has  been  in  business  it  has  never  been  able  to  purchase 
any  American  "wolframite"  with  the  exception  of  one  instance  of 
recent  date  when  one  car  of  25  tons  of  low-grade  ore  was  secured. 
Have  had  to  depend  entirely  on  foreign  ore,  and  therefore  the  handicap 
of  a  10  per  cent  duty  works  a  hardship  to  them.  (H.  R.  Doc.  1447, 
62d  Cong.,  3d  sess.,  Vol.  II,  p.  1721.) 

Trade  relations  and  the  tungsten  industry. — The  major  part  of 
the  imports  of  tungsten  ore  into  the  United  States  in  1916  to 
1918  was  derived  from  South  American  and  Far  Eastern  countries. 
These  are  the  countries  with  which  the  United  States  has  been 
attempting  to  foster  trade.  In  the  case  of  a  great  many  of  these 
nations,  the  exports  of  tungsten  ore  to  the  United  States  bulk 
large  in  the  value  of  the  international  trade.  The  placing 


TUNGSTEN-BEARING  ORES.  45 

of  a  prohibitively  high  tariff  on  tungsten  ore  would  result  in  the 
stopping  of  these  exports  to  the  United  States  and  their  transfer  to 
other  countries.  Strong  pressure  1  has  been  brought  to  bear  by 
England  to  stop  the  growing  trade  in  tungsten  between  Southern 
China  and  the  United  States.  Whether  this  is  merely  an  expression 
of  the  extraordinary  British  need  of  tungsten,  or  whether  it  has  a 
deeper  significance  denoting  a  recognition  that  the  tungsten  trade 
may  become  the  nucleus  of  broader  trade  relations,  is  a  matter  of 
conjecture.  The  fact,  however,  was  that  American  importers  were 
able  to  secure  very  limited  supplies  of  south  China  ore  because 
they  have  been  very  rarely  able  to  secure  the  requisite  permits  from 
the  British  Government  at  Hongkong.  Similar  restrictions  were 
placed  on  shipments  from  Siam.  Speaking  of  the  Hongkong  situa- 
tion, Consul  General  George  E.  Anderson  at  that  city  made  the  fol- 
lowing report,  dated  November  9,  1917: 

Because  of  war  restrictions  and  other  conditions,  most  of  the  ore  heretofore  exported 
has  gone  to  Great  Britain,  and  British  regulations  at  this  time  make  it  difficult  to  ship 
south  China  ore  to  the  United  States.  It  is  anticipated  that  this  state  of  things  will 
be  remedied  in  the  course  of  a  short  time,  and  in  the  meanwhile  buyers  for  American 
steel  manufacturers  have  been  investigating  the  south  China  situation  and  have 
organized  the  work  of  gathering  the  available  ore  to  such  an  extent  that  there  is  almost 
a  boom  in  the  business. 

The  course  of  the  trade  in  Hongkong  since  the  development  of  the  south  China 
fields  commenced  this  year  may  be  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  exports  from  Hongkong 
in  June  amounted  to  60  tons,  in  July  to  78  tons,  and  for  the  first  half  of  August  92 
tons,  permits  to  ship  to  the  United  States  being  withdrawn  about  the  middle  of 
August.  There  is  now  on  hand  in  Canton  and  Hongkong  warehouses  perhaps  500 
tons  of  the  ore  ready  for  sending  to  the  United  States  as  soon  as  permission  from 
the  English  Government  covering  transshipment  at  Hongkong  can  be  obtained. 

The  following  statements  of  Mr.  Robert  H.  Hepburn,  921  South 
Forty-eighth  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  apply  to  the  South  American 
situation : 

The  growing  public  realization  of  the  importance  of  our  trade  relations  with  South 
America  and  the  increasing  demand  that  they  be  encouraged  and  developed  imposes 
the  duty  of  a  careful  consideration  of  the  effects  likely  to  follow  the  enactment  and 
enforcement  of  possibly  prohibitory  trade  legislation,  and  this  applies  especially  to 
the  importation  of  tungsten  from  Bolivia. 

Bolivia  is  primarily  dependent  on  tin  and  tungsten  exports,  and  if  we  purpose 
establishing  a  permanent  interchange  of  commodities  with  this  country,  this  circum- 
stance must  be  recognized.  *  *  * 

A  slightly  varying  price  (for  tungsten)  per  unit — say  $24  to  §26,  reasonably  stabilized 
figures — would  be  ideal  if  practical  and  would  enable  producers  and  users  to  make 
definite  calculations.  *  *  * 

Bolivian  tungsten  and  tin  can  be  sold  readily  in  Europe  with  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  imports  following  therefrom,  but  should  we  contribute  to  such  a  result,  and 
in  its  effect  blanket  this  and  other  trade  relations  with  South  American  countries? 
*.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  importation  of  tungsten  and  tin  ores  from  Bolivia 
would  be  the  very  best  protection  of  the  Government  against  excess  prices  and  still 
give  generous  profits  to  our  mines  and  miners. 

A  market  price  of  S24  to  ?26  per  unit  for  tungsten  would  give  only  a  fair  profit  to 
most  of  the  miners  in  Bolivia,  who  pay  for  transportation  from  mine  to  railroad,  over 
railroad  to  point  of  shipment,  lighterage  to  vessel,  freight  to  port  of  destination, 
insurance,  etc.,  and  to  all  these  charges  is  added — owing  to  lack  of  American  banking 
facilities — the  cost  of  cabling  moneys  back  for  operating,  etc.,  expenses.  All  this  is 
certainly  a  right  large  protection  for  our  own  producers. 

Should  a  market  price  of  $28  to  $30  per  unit  be  allowed  for  tungsten  concentrates, 
then  a  duty  of  $2  to  $4  per  unit  could  be  paid  by  Bolivian  miners  and  still  send  us 
ore. 

1  See  confidential  file,  and  Reports  of  Conference  at  San  Francisco. 


46  UNITED  STATES  TARIFF   COMMISSION  REPORT. 

The  above  excerpts  are  from  correspondence  in  reference  to  the 
war  minerals  bill  and  dated  in  the  spring  and  early  summer  of  1918. 
(Copies  of  this  correspondence  are  in  the  files  of  this  commission.) 

Another  phase  of  the  Bolivian  tungsten  situation  is  its  complica- 
tion with  shipments  of  tin.  Bolivia  is  the  one  source  of  supply  for 
the  tin  smelting  industry  that  has  lately  developed  in  the  United 
States.  Tin  is  as  essential  a  commodity  as  tungsten  and  this  country 
is  barren  of  producing  mines.  Although  it  is  the  largest  consumer 
in  the  world,  the  United  States  must  refy  wholly  on  foreign  countries 
for  its  tin.  There  is  active  competition  with  foreign  countries, 
especially  England,  for  tin  supplies,  and  as  tin  and  tungsten  are 
generally  found  together,  a  cessation  of  tungsten  shipments  may  so 
prejudice  foreign  miners  that  they  will  also  divert  their  tin  ores  to 
Europe. 

Additional  statements  of  producers  have  been  abstracted  for  the 
T.  I.  C.  unit  on  ferrotungsten  (p.  15,  No.  10).  Many  of  these  refer 
to  tungsten  ore  and  should  be  consulted  in  connection  with  the 
foregoing. 

MINING    LABOR    CONDITIONS    IN    PORTUGAL.1 

There  is  no  class  of  labor  in  Portugal  corresponding  to  the  miners 
and  mill  men  of  America.  All  the  workmen  own  small  farms  and 
only  work  in  the  mines  when  not  engaged  in  harvesting.  Carpenters, 
blacksmiths,  tinsmiths,  etc.,  turn  out  creditable  work  considering 
the  tools  they  use,  but  they  are  not  amenable  to  the  introduction  of 
modern  tools  or  improved  methods.  Portuguese  laborers'  wages  are 
low  in  comparison  to  those  paid  in  the  United  States,  as  shown  in 
table,  but  the  fact  that  mechanical  appliances  operate  better  and 
at  lower  cost  than  any  Portuguese  hand  labor  must  always  be  borne 
in  mind. 

Under  proper  supervision,  and  with  the  same  mechanical  equip- 
ment used  in  the  United  States,  operating  costs  should  be  much  less, 
on  account  of  the  low  wages,  but  the  substitution  of  hand  methods, 
no  matter  how  low  the  wages,  for  any  mechanical  appliance  in  Por- 
tugal, invariably  results  in  higher  costs  and  inferior  grade  of  product. 

Typical  Portuguese  mine  wage  scale,  July,  191  i. 

Topographical  engineer,  per  month $49  00 

Local  superintendent,  per  month $35.  00-  105.  00 

Portuguese  engineer,  per  month 56.  00-    70.  00 

Bookkeeper,  per  month 23.  00-    42.  00 

Mill  captain,  per  day .70 

Mine  captain,  per  day .63 

Guard,  per  day .63 

Miners,  per  day .  28-        .  47 

Trammers,  per  day .25 

Helper,  per  day 11-        .  14 

Blacksmith,  per  day .35 

Carpenter,  per  day .49 

Women,  per  day .14-        .21 

Pack  mule  and  driver,  per  day .70 

Bull  cart  and  driver,  per  day 1.  40 

1  Digest  from  an  article  entitled  "  The  Mineral  Industry  in  Portugal."   Footc  and  Ransom.  Eng.  Min . 
Jour.  106  (1918),  pp.  47-52. 


TUXGSTEN-BEARING   ORES.  47 

The  peasant  or  farmer  class  of  Portuguese  *  *  *  is  by  nature 
slow,  methodical,  stupid  and  conscientious.  The  people  are  slow  to 
learn  anything  new,  and  if  it  involves  a  change  in  the  mode  of  opera- 
tion from  that  to  which  they  are  accustomed,  it  is  almost  an  impossible 
undertaking.  *  *  *  The  natives  also  have  a  perverted  inventive 
sense  which  prompts  them  to  adjust  engines  and  machinery,  so  that 
they  can  not  run.  Practically  all  the  work  in  the  mills  is  done  by 
women.  For  the  most  part  the  women  are  better  workers  than  the 
men  and  easier  instructed. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Commerce  and  Navigation.  By  United  States  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce. 

Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States.     By  United  States  Geological  Survey. 

The  Mineral  Industry.     By  G.  A.  Rousch. 

Tungsten  Minerals  and  Deposits.  United  States  Geological  Survey  Bulletin  652 
(1917). 

ASSOCIATIONS,    ESTABLISHMENTS,    IMPORTERS,    EXPORTERS,    TRADE 
JOURNALS,  DIRECTORIES. 

Engineering  and  Mining  Journal. 

Iron  Trade  Review. 

Iron  Age. 

Mining  and  Scientific  Press. 

A  large  mailing  list  of  tungsten  producers  and  consumers  was 
obtained  from  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  (Mr.  Frank  L. 
Hess)  preliminary  to  the  conferences  held  by  the  United  States 
Tariff  Commission  in  Denver  and  San  Francisco.  .A  similar  list  can 
be  obtained  at  any  time.  The  uncertain  condition  of  the  industry 
is  causing  rapid  changes  in  the  names  and  a  considerable  percentage 
of  former  operators  and  buyers  have  gone  out  of  the  business  and 
many  others  now  engaged  in  the  tungsten  business  may  be  expected 
to  drop  out  in  the  near  future.  Since  a  practically  complete  and 
up-to-date  list  is  always  available  on  application  to  the  Survey, 
none  is  given  on  this  page. 

o 


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